Yale Bulletin
and Calendar

November 16-23, 1998Volume 27, Number 13




























New office supports school's mission
of research and scholarship

The School of Nursing (YSN) has opened an Office of Research and Policy, marking the school's enhanced emphasis on research to complement its long-standing tradition of clinical excellence. The office is located in the School of Nursing facility at 100 Church St. South.

The Office of Research and Policy will facilitate the scholarship of the YSN faculty and students. Administrative support and consultation services in grant development and management, writing, statistical analyses, and database management and development will be available. The office will be headed by Margaret Grey, who is associate dean for research affairs and the Independence Foundation Professor of Nursing. In addition to encouraging scholarship throughout the YSN community, Grey will continue her own research on the adaptation of children and their families to chronic illness.

"The stated mission of this school has never changed. We want to contribute to better health care for all people," says Grey. "Research and scholarship, because their impact is so broad, offer our faculty and students a wonderful opportunity to work toward that goal. As our research and scholarship are translated into policy and practice, we not only advance the health of our own patients, we advance health care itself."

The Office of Research and Policy includes the Center for Health Policy, directed by Sally Cohen, assistant professor of nursing. This center serves as the focal point for policy discussions within YSN and facilitates linkage among clinical nursing practice, research and policy. Under the auspices of the center, Cohen and other faculty members offer testimony on issues of health care and nursing practice on the state and federal levels. The center also sponsors forums linking research and policy on such topics as managed care.

YSN is developing a Center for Excellence in Chronic Illness Care, under the direction of noted cancer researcher Ruth McCorkle, who heads the school's doctoral program (see related story, below). The first of several new centers for excellence at YSN, it will advance research in AIDS, cancer, cardiovascular and diabetes care by drawing upon the expertise of the YSN faculty and the Yale faculty at large.

"Yale School of Nursing has assembled a truly eminent team of nurse researchers," says YSN Dean Catherine Gilliss. "I am proud of their scholarly work, for its excellence and insight and for its clear potential to reform policy and practice. It delights me that our students can benefit from their mentorship."