Funds from the every member campaign go directly to support SNRS’s research grants. The support of this important mission help new nurse scientists, like Dr. Muna Hammash, establish their research agendas.

Muna Hammash, PhD, RN, is an Assistant Professor at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. She was the recipient of the 2008 Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science (CANS)/Southern Nursing Research Society (SNRS) Nursing Science Advancement (NSA) Dissertation Grant Award. The award allowed Dr. Hammash to collect data for her longitudinal prospective dissertation study which was designed to identify the impact of changes in heart rate variability on the occurrence of cardiac dysrhythmias during ventilatory weaning and duration of mechanical ventilation for patients in intensive care.

When asked what it meant to her to receive the CANS/SNRS NSA Dissertation Grant Award, Dr. Hammash responded by saying that it was “very, very important” to her ability to conduct her dissertation study and receive her doctoral degree. She stated that learning how people felt and how they suffered when someone they loved experienced difficulty getting separated from an artificial ventilator “energized” her to do the work. Dr. Hammash described that there are not many funding opportunities available to students, so she is very appreciative to have received the award. She is also thankful that the award is not restricted to only U.S. citizens as other funding opportunities are; she is originally from Jordan.

Dr. Hammash is continuing her program of research, which is focused on heart and lung and the interaction between the two. She believes that the prestige of the CANS/SNRS NSA Dissertation Grant Award has opened doors for her in many ways. She has secured a faculty position and is building her career as a nurse scientist at one of only two research universities in the state of Kentucky. She has been awarded funding from the American Nurses Foundation for a study investigating precipitants of acute exacerbation of congestive heart failure. She has also designed a study focused on implantable cardiac defibrillators.

Dr. Hammash firmly believes that receiving the prestigious 2008 CANS/SNRS NSA Dissertation Grant Award allowed her to take an important first step in her journey to become a nurse researcher and is now confidently traveling that path hoping to positively influence health for patients suffering with heart and/or lung disorders.

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