New CFPHN interim chair
Dr. Pamela Kohler
Dr. Pamela Kohler, PhD, MPH, RN, professor and immediate past co-director of the University of Washington Center for Global Health Nursing, has been selected as interim chair to lead the Department of Child, Family, and Population Health Nursing (CFPHN), pending Board of Regents approval. She is well respected by her colleagues within and outside of the School of Nursing.
Dr. Kohler has worked at the University of Washington for nearly 20 years, starting as an emergency department nurse, then research coordinator, scientist, and now faculty. Originally from the Seattle area, she completed her nursing training at Johns Hopkins University and earned her PhD in nursing and MPH in health services from the UW.
Dr. Kohler’s research has been funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research, Arnold Ventures, and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; exploring social and programmatic barriers to uptake of services along the HIV care continuum including prevention, referral to and retention in HIV care programs, and access to sex education. She is particularly interested in improving HIV testing and treatment services for adolescents in resource-limited settings and in working with healthcare providers to improve the quality of HIV and STD service delivery.
Dr. Kohler holds a joint appointment in the Department of Global Health and is currently interim co-director of the International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH). At I-TECH, Dr. Kohler has led a field epidemiology training program and evaluates STD/HIV treatment and prevention programs and policies in Eastern and Southern Africa.
The selection of Dr. Kohler follows careful consideration of internal candidates for this interim leadership role. Dr. Kohler will deepen her impact in the Department of Child, Family, and Population Health Nursing and the UW School of Nursing’s vision of pioneering improvements in health and health care through innovative nursing science, education and practice while continuing to support advancement of Global Health Nursing.
Teresa Ward, RN, PhD, has led CFPHN since her appointment in 2019. She will transition into her new role as a nurse scientist in the Department of Pediatrics at the UW School of Medicine, where she will serve as a professor of pediatrics. Dr. Kohler will take on the mantel of interim CFPHN chair with a high degree of competence, confidence, and integrity.