Year in review 2025-2026
Year in Review 2025–2026
Dean Katherine E. Gregory
At the Connell School of Nursing, we often speak about nursing as a calling. And it is. But it is also a profession, a discipline, a science, a practice, and a public good. It asks much of those who choose it. It asks us to meet people at moments of vulnerability and uncertainty, and to respond with knowledge, steadiness, and care.
This Year in Review offers a glimpse of how our community answered that call over the past year. In classrooms and clinical settings, in laboratories and communities, through scholarship, service, and leadership, our students, faculty, staff, and alumni continued to advance the work of nursing and public health in ways that are both deeply personal and urgently needed.
Their accomplishments are many, and taken together they tell a larger story. They show what this work makes possible. They remind us that nursing is foundational to the health and well-being of every community we serve.
I am proud of this work. I am proud of the people behind it. And I am grateful to share this mission with all of you—colleagues, partners, and friends who understand the extraordinary promise of nursing and public health, and our responsibility to prepare the next generation to lead it.
With gratitude, and with great hope for the year ahead,
Katherine E. Gregory
Dean, Connell School of Nursing
The Global Public Health and the Common Good program is turning science into effective interventions worldwide
Innovative partnerships provide access to care for the most vulnerable
Through mentorship, hands-on experience, and a culture of belonging, the Connell School equips students to thrive academically and meet the realities of patient care.
With a new partnership, Messina College and CSON unlock health care careers for first-generation college students.
The American Academy of Nursing (AAN) selected six outstanding Connell School alumni as fellows of the academy this fall. Recognized for their substantial contributions to health and health care are:
- Lisa Duffy, M.S. ’02, Ph.D. ’13 – joint associate professor, UMass Amherst Elaine Marieb College of Nursing and the Institute for Applied Life Sciences
- Valerie Fuller, ’91, M.S. ’98 – president, American Association of Nurse Practitioners
- Patricia Lawrence, M.S. ’92 – assistant professor and director of Project Healthy Grandparents at Georgia State University School of Public Health
- Kristen Sethares, Ph.D. ’03 – professor, UMass Dartmouth College of Nursing and Health Sciences
- Cathy St. Pierre, Ph.D. ’95 – nurse researcher, VA Bedford Healthcare System
- John Welch, M.S. ’12 – senior director of clinical systems, Partners in Health; senior nurse anesthetist, cardiac anesthesia, Boston Children's Hospital; director of Nurse Anesthesia DNP Track, The Ohio State University College of Nursing
The Academy of Diversity Leaders in Nursing inducted Ph.D. candidate Sasha DuBois and Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives Leah Gordon into its inaugural class of fellows. Read More
Nationally recognized nurse practitioner, educator, and health policy advocate Valerie Fuller, ’91, M.S. ’98, was named president of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners in June.
Chizoba Nwosu ’05 received the Mary A. Manning Nurse Mentoring Award from the American Nurses Association Massachusetts. Nwosu is associate chief nurse of academic affiliations at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Barbara Wolfe, Ph.D. ’95, received the Connell School’s Dean Rita P. Kelleher Award for alumni achievement. Wolfe is provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of Rhode Island and an internationally recognized expert on psychiatric and mental health nursing and eating disorders.
Professor Ann Burgess was included in a CNN piece on women who seek to understand those who kill. And at CrimeCon in Denver, she shared the stage with legendary hip-hop artist Ice T.
In an article in The Atlantic, Associate Professor and Strakosch Family Faculty Fellow Tam Nguyen provided context based on her research into the crisis of high gestational diabetes rates among Asian American populations.
Assistant Professor Victor Petreca wrote about why violent acts are often blamed on mental illness in TIME magazine and about the new role that psychiatric diagnosis has taken on in public life in the Boston Globe Ideas section.
- Faculty
Professor and Elizabeth Power Keohane Faculty Fellow Karen Lyons and her co-authors wrote the first book written on dyadic health science, examining how two people navigate their health and illness within their close personal relationship.
%20500.jpg)
Assistant Professor Melissa Uveges was awarded a grant from the American Heart Association to support her project studying the screening of pediatric patients for a genetic condition that causes “bad cholesterol.”
Academic research
- Students
Taylor Bellfield, a Ph.D. candidate and Jonas Scholar, received an American Psychiatric Nurses Association Research Grant for his work exploring how identity and context shape health in adults with ADHD.
Ph.D. candidate Nickie Burney received a Foundation for Nursing Advancement in Massachusetts Research Grant for her research exploring how work is associated with diabetes outcomes in hospital settings.
CSON doctoral students and faculty presented scholarly work addressing some of today’s most pressing health care challenges at the Eastern Nursing Research Society (ENRS) Annual Scientific Sessions. Conference awards went to:
- Melissa Rogers ’17, Yan Liu, and Jacquelyn Bentley (all D.N.P. ’26) with faculty mentors Sarah Given and Megan Clancy, who were named first in School-Selected Posters for D.N.P. Students
- Ph.D. student Jill Doyle with faculty mentors including Christopher Lee, who received second in Peer-Reviewed Doctoral Student Posters