Endowed Professors Recognized During Investiture Ceremony
Three VCU School of Nursing faculty members were awarded the VCU Medallion for Endowed Faculty Honors at an investiture ceremony on Nov. 9. The ceremony was held during the annual Cabaniss Society Reception/Dinner at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
Endowed professors who were recognized include Mary Jo Grap, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN, Nursing Alumni Endowed Professor; Nancy L. McCain, D.S.N., R.N., FAAN, Nursing Alumni Endowed Professor; and Debra E. Lyon, Ph.D., R.N., FNP-BC, FNAP, FAAN, the Inaugural Collins-Teefey Distinguished Professor.
“We at VCU and the VCU School of Nursing are proud of these distinguished faculty members and grateful to our alumni and friends who made these endowed professorships possible,” said Dr. Sheldon Retchin, vice president of health sciences and CEO of VCU Health System. Dr. Retchin, assisted by Nancy Langston, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN, dean of the School of Nursing, presided over the investiture ceremony.
Endowed professorships are among the highest honors awarded to university faculty members. Those who are named to endowed professorships represent excellence in teaching, research, clinical practice and service.
Dr. Grap is a professor in the Department of Adult Health and Nursing Systems and the administrative core director for the School’s NIH-funded, P30 Center of Excellence for Biobehavioral Approaches to Symptom Management. Her research investigates sedation in medically ventilated, critically ill patients, with the goal to improve pulmonary outcomes by reducing ventilator associated pneumonia and optimizing sedation.
Dr. McCain is a professor in the Department of Adult Health and Nursing Systems. Currently, she is the director of the Biobehavioral Science Core of the School’s NIH-funded P30 Center of Excellence for Biobehavioral Approaches to Symptom Management, having completed a five-year, NIH-funded P20 grant as principal investigator and director of the Administrative Core for the Center for Biobehavioral Clinical Research. Her individual research program has focused on testing intervention strategies for stress management in persons with HIV infection, and most recently, in women receiving chemotherapy for early-stage breast cancer through a grant from the National Cancer Institute.
Dr. Lyon is a professor and chair of the VCU School of Nursing’s Department of Family and Community Health Nursing and serves as co-director of the Biobehavioral Science Core of the School’s NIH-funded P30 Center of Excellence for Biobehavioral Approaches to Symptom Management. Dr. Lyon specializes in nursing theory and research, as well as family, children’s and women’s health. She also conducts NIH-funded research in areas that include symptom management in women with breast cancer and complementary and alternative therapies for symptom management.
Dr. Mary Jo Grap, Dr. Nancy Langston, Dr. Debra Lyon, Dr. Nancy McCain and Dr. Sheldon Retchin at the investiture ceremony.