Teresa Ward RN, PhD, FAAN

I have clinical and research background as a sleep nurse practitioner at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) where I managed behavioral sleep problems in children and adolescents, and their families. My program of research focuses on the promotion of sleep health, symptom science, health outcomes, and the underlying mechanisms of obstructive sleep apnea in preschool and school age children with and without chronic conditions and their caregivers. My team and I study the effect of sleep deficiency (inadequate amount of sleep, poor quality) on caregiver-child dyad interactions, symptoms (pain, fatigue, anxiety, depression), and health outcomes (quality of life, cognition, healthcare utilization)

Awards and Accolades

• 2018, Inductee of the Fellowship of the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN)
• 2017, Alumni Endowed Professor of Nursing
• 2015, Competitively Selected, UW Leadership Excellence Project: Thriving as a Change Agent in
• 2013, Nominee, University of Washington, Outstanding Mentor Award, Undergraduate Honors Research

Education

• BSN, DeSales University
• MSN, FNP, Drexel University
• PhD, University of California, San Francisco

What classes do you teach?

• NURS 201 Growth and Development Through the Lifespan (undergraduates)
• NMETH 591 The Science of Therapeutics: Design and Outcomes (PhD)
• NMETH 801 Practice Doctorate Project/Capstone (DNP)

What do you love about the UW School of Nursing?

I love giving back to our families and community partners. I enjoy mentoring undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in children, their families, and improving their health outcomes. Currently I train and work with several undergraduate and graduate students from a variety of disciplines (nursing, psychology, computer science, human centered design engineering, global health) in the development and testing of self-management interventions to improve sleep in parent-child dyads.  We actively engage our students, community partners, and children and families in our sleep health promotion research.

Current Funding

 

Scholarly work (projects not listed in PubMed, such as books, publications or videos) Current Funding 2018-2020                  Principal Investigator. Sleep Self -Management Intervention in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, National Institutes of Health/NINR, R21NR017471, 2018-2020                   Co – Principal Investigator. Role of Sleep Deficiency in Self-Management of Pediatric Chronic Pain, (PI: Palermo, TM), National Institutes of Health/NICHD, R21NR017312 2017- 2018                   Principal Investigator. Sleep Deficiency and Symptoms in Youth with Systemic Lupus, Research & Intramural Funding Program, University of Washington, School of Nursing 2016-2021                   Co – Director. Center for Innovation in Sleep Self – Management, (MPI: Heitkemper, MM/Ward, TM), National Institutes of Health/NINR, P30 NR016585 2014- 2019                  Co – Investigator. Healthy Sleep Intervention for Preschool Children, (PI: Garrison, M), National Institutes of Health/NICHD, R01 HD071937 Prior Funding 2015 – 2016                 Multiple Principal Investigators. (MPI: Klee, K/Ward, TM). Nursing Perspectives of Sleep in Hospitalized Children and their Parents, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Nursing Research Program 2014 – 2015                 Principal Investigator. Sleep Disordered Breathing in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis and Urine Proteomics, Research & Intramural Funding Program, University of Washington, School of Nursing 2010 – 2015                 Principal Investigator. Sleep Disordered Breathing in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, National Institutes of Health/NINR, R01 NR012734 2009 – 2014                Project Principal Investigator. Chronic Illness and its Impact on Sleep, Disease – Related Symptoms and Health Outcomes in Young Children and Their Parents, (MPI: Heitkemper, MM / Vitiello, M), National Institutes of Health/NINR, P30 NR011400 2010 – 2012                 Co – Investigator. Associations between Sleep and Disease Activity in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, (PI: Ringold, S), National Institutes of Health/NINR, P30 NR011400

Department

Psychosocial and Community Health

Research Areas

• Innovative Interventions
• Symptom Science
• Lifespan Health

Research Centers

• Center for Innovation in Sleep Self-Management