School of Nursing

October 17, 2017

Faculty members reappointed as endowed professors

Azita Emami

I am pleased to announce that three faculty members have been reappointed as endowed professors. Please join me in congratulating these faculty on their appointments:

The Aljoya Endowed Professorship in Aging

Basia BelzaBasia Belza, PhD, RN, FAAN
UW Professor, Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Informatics

The Aljoya Endowed Professorship in Aging is awarded to faculty members whose commitment to teaching, research, and practice reflects the standards of academic excellence of the UW School of Nursing, and who seeks to advance research and scholarship in the study of health aging. It is the donors’ wish that through community outreach and education, the professor will enhance the school’s ability to contribute to health policy and services for older adults.

Belza’s passion is the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based health promotion programs for older adults. As lead of the Coordinating Center for the CDC Healthy Brain Research Network, she oversees efforts to advance a public health research, translation, and dissemination agenda. She developed the award-winning Mall Walking: A Program Resource Guide. She serves on the Washington State Dementia Action Collaborative and mentors students by engaging them in research and community efforts.

The de Tornyay Endowed Professorship for Healthy Aging

Barbara CochraneBarbara Cochrane, PhD, RN, FAAN, FGSA
UW Professor, Family and Child Nursing

The de Tornyay Endowed Professorship for Healthy Aging enhances the university’s ability to attract and retain distinguished faculty in gerontology. This endowment recognizes, in perpetuity, the desire of Rheba and Rudy de Tornyay to provide ongoing leadership in the field of gerontology.

Cochrane’s research and professional commitments focus primarily on older women’s health and healthy aging, specifically positive aspects of aging, symptoms in older women, breast cancer prevention and survivorship, and cardiovascular health. For over 20 years, she has been a researcher with the Clinical Coordinating Center for the Women’s Health Initiative, a landmark, national study of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in more than 160,000 postmenopausal women.

The Elizabeth Sterling Soule Endowed Chair in Nursing

Margaret HeitkemperMargaret Heitkemper, PhD, RN, FAAN
Chair, Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Informatics

The Elizabeth Sterling Soule Chair in Nursing, through the knowledge enhancement it would foster, will aid the school and its students and faculty in continuing to be at the forefront of service to health care delivery for all consumers.

Heitkemper’s research explores the connection between sleep and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). She leads an interdisciplinary team focused on the study of the pathophysiology and non-pharmacological management of individuals with IBS. At this time, her team is studying the interaction of stress, sleep, genetics, microbiome, and symptoms (for example, pain) in women with IBS. She is the co-director of the Center for Innovation in Sleep Self-Management.