Global Research

Project Leaders

• Lusine Poghosyan, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN
  Stone Foundation and Elise D. Fish Professor of Nursing and Professor of Health Policy and Management
• Monica K O'Reilly-Jacob, PhD, APRN, FNP-BC, FAAN
  Assistant Professor of Nursing

This research project addresses the healthcare needs of forcibly displaced persons in Armenia and Greece, where health systems are under strain. It unites the Center for Healthcare Delivery Research & Innovations at Columbia University, the American University of Armenia, and the Columbia Global Center in Athens to create a global network of experts focused on enhancing nursing care for displaced populations. Through a series of convenings involving policymakers, researchers, and healthcare professionals, the project aims to identify challenges in care delivery and develop policy recommendations to strengthen the nursing workforce in these countries. Ultimately, it seeks to foster ongoing collaboration and research on the role of nurses in supporting displaced individuals.

Project Leaders

• Kellie Bryant, DNP
  Assistant Professor and Executive Director of the Simulation Center
• Jennifer Dohrn, DNP
  Professor and Assistant Dean, Global Health Initiatives
• Father Tomy Karyilakulam
  Director, Bel-Air Hospital of Indian Red Cross Society, Panchgani, India

This project will assess nursing teaching techniques and evaluate the introduction of simulation learning in Maharashtra, India. A plan for simulation will be presented at a summit at the Columbia Global Center in Mumbai to garner support from potential funders and regulatory bodies in India. International partners for the Columbia Nursing team include Bel-Air College of Nursing in Panchgani, India, the Indian National Council, and India’s Ministries of Health and Education. External stakeholders, funders, and simulation vendors will be invited to the summit to garner support for rollout and sustainability

Project Leaders

• Tonda Hughes, PhD
  Henrik H. Bendixen Professor of International Nursing (in Psychiatry) 
• Lilian Ferrer, PhD
  Professor and Director of International Affairs
  Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile School of Nursing

The project aims to conduct secondary data analyses using the 2016-2017 Encuesta Nacional de Salud, Chile’s National Health Survey, which includes a wealth of data on health status, mental health, health behaviors, sexual health, and biological measurements. The research team will focus primarily on comparisons of health conditions and health risk factors between sexual minority and heterosexual respondents. Led by Tonda Hughes, PhD, and Lillian Ferrer, PhD, the project will be conducted in collaboration with the Columbia Global Center in Santiago. Individual collaborators include Co-PI Lilian Ferrer, Professor at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile School of Nursing, Billy Caceres, PhD, Assistant Professor, Columbia Nursing, and three other researchers from universities in Chile.

Project Leaders

• Jennifer Dohrn, DNP
  Professor and Assistant Dean, Global Health Initiatives
• Elaine Larson, PhD
  Senior Associate Dean and Anna C. Maxwell Professor of Research
  Professor of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health
• Manar Nabolsi, PhD
  Dean, Faculty of Nursing, University of Jordan
• Reema Safadi, PhD
  Professor, Faculty of Nursing, University of Jordan 

Investigators conducted a needs assessment to understand the health needs and reproductive health practices of postpartum Syrian refugees who live outside of refugee camps in host communities across Jordan for the purpose of providing services responsive to Syrian women refugees in the postpartum period.

Project Leaders

• Jennifer Dohrn, DNP
  Professor and Assistant Dean, Global Health Initiatives
• Elaine Larson, PhD
  Senior Associate Dean and Anna C. Maxwell Professor of Research
  Professor of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health
• Fathieh Abu-Moghli, PhD
  Faculty of Nursing, University of Jordan
• Muntaha K. Gharaibeh, PhD
  Jordanian Nursing Council
• Raeda Abu Al Rub, PhD
  Jordan University of Science and Technology
• Samar Noureddine, PhD
  Hariri School of Nursing, American University of Beirut
• Cheherezade Ghazi, PhD
  School of Nursing, Badr University in Cairo, Egypt
• Elham Al Nagshabandi, DSN
  King Abdulaziz University College of Nursing, Saudi Arabia
• Arwa Oweis, DNS
  World Health Organization Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean Region (WHO EMRO)
• Hania Dawani, DNS
  Advisor
• Hester Klopper, PhD
  Chief Executive Officer of Forum for University Nursing Deans in SA (FUNDISA), President of Sigma Theta Tau International, Professor of University of the Western Cape and North-West University
• Address Malata, PhD
  Vice Chancellor of the Malawi University of Science and Technology Vice President | International Confederation of Midwives (ICM)
• Grace Omoni, PhD
  Director or School of Nursing Sciences, University of Nairobi, President, Confederation of African Midwives Associations (CONAMA), Chair, Lugina Africa Midwives Research Network (LAMRN)

The goals of the project were to: establish cross-regional core working groups and a database of nursing and midwifery leaders involved in research and program evaluation; convene a Research Summit to identify regional gaps in knowledge and priorities for nursing research and mentorship; recommend strategies to address these gaps; develop a mentorship plan with access to a pool of regional and global nurse research experts; and disseminate recommended strategies that include a mentorship component to pave the way for sustainability and replication. 

Project Leader

• Gregory L. Alexander, PhD, RN, FAAN, FACMI, FIAHSI

        Helen Young CUPHSONAA Professor of Nursing

By 2050, the proportion of the world’s population that is over 60 will nearly double from 12% to 22%, representing nearly 2 billion older people worldwide. In response, the United Nations declared 2021–2030 to be the Decade of Healthy Aging, aiming to improve the lives of older people. Thus, Long-Term Post-Acute Care (LTPAC) systems that provide care for older adults are a significant global area of interest. Our definition of LTPAC providers includes home care and hospice, assisted living facilities, and nursing homes. LTPAC systems are essential because 70% of older adults will require long term care services during their life. As the world’s population gets older, many challenges exist for providing safe, higher quality care for older adults at the individual, institutional and community levels. One international strategy for improving quality of care in the world’s LTPAC systems is the efficient and competent use of health information technology.

Learn more about the 2024 International Summit on Innovation and Technology in Care of Older People (IS-ITCOP)

Specific Aims:

• Specific Aim 1: Identify emerging and established technology used in LTPAC.
• Specific Aim 2: Describe the barriers and facilitators affecting technology adoption in LTPAC.
• Specific Aim 3: Examine how barriers in technology adoption can influence disparities among patients in LTPAC.
• Specific Aim 4: Create a research agenda to identify ways that governments, professional organizations, etc. can remove barriers and promote facilitators for technology adoption, and thus lessen disparities in LTPAC.

Project Leader

• Tonda Hughes,  PhD, RN, FAAN

        Henrik H. Bendixen Professor of International Nursing

This 1-year study will utilize a mixed-methods approach to better understand how different cultural contexts influence SMW’s drinking, and the potential usefulness of an alcohol intervention based on sober curiosity. Dr. Hughes, Dr. Lauren Bochicchio, and collaborators at Glasgow Caledonian University and San Jose University aim to explore (1) Scottish SMW’s perceptions of their own drinking, their peer’s drinking, the need or desire to reduce their alcohol consumption, and the ‘sober curious’ movement; and (2) strategies SMW have used or would consider using to reduce their alcohol consumption. 

Project Leaders

• Jacquelyn Taylor, PhD, PNP-BC, FAHA, FAAN
  Helen F. Pettit Professor of Nursing, Columbia Nursing 
• Marcella Nunez-Smith, MD, MHS
  Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, Public Health, and Management, Yale School of Medicine

This project will enable researchers from Columbia University School of Nursing, Yale School of Medicine ECHORN, Eastern Caribbean Islands, and Emory University to launch a multi-site collaboration aimed at reducing health inequities in cardiovascular disease among Caribbean-descent populations in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados. This work will advance the understanding of the biological, environmental, and social factors that influence intergenerational cardiovascular risk over time. Support from the Elaine L. Larson Global Development Fund will specifically help build multidisciplinary teams in the U.S. and Eastern Caribbean, and establish and test methods of data collection, laboratory procedures, and data analysis.  

Project Leader

• Carolyn Sun, PhD '15

This project leverages the skills of team members with the human resources that Kamuzu College of Nursing to produce several deliverables: three publishable systematic reviews, curricula for future scholarly writing workshops, and drafts of up to three specific aims pages tailored to identified funding sources. Sun’s program team includes co-investigators Maureen George, PhD and Ana Kelly, PhD faculty members at Columbia Nursing.

Project Leaders

• Marie Carmel Garcon, DNP
  Assistant Professor of Clinical Nursing
• Mary Tresgallo, DNP
  Assistant Professor of Nursing

This study is an extension of preliminary work done with nurse leaders and educators in Haiti and the University d`Etat d`Haiti over the past year. This project will focus on: 

1. Organizing and participating in an End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium Core curriculum workshop in Haiti for nurse educators/leaders and nurse clinicians
2. Facilitating the establishment of curricula that reflect core competencies in palliative care for nursing education
3. Assembling a bibliography and references in palliative care for dissemination and education 
4. Conducting preliminary discussions with physicians and other health professionals to clarify and define the need for palliative care education in their respective disciplines
5. Drafting a manuscript for publication describing the project 

Project Leaders

• Ana Kelly, PhD, RN

        Associate Professor of Nursing 

In this quasi-experimental, two-group pretest-posttest educational intervention study, Kelly and her research team from Kamuzu College of Nursing aim to assess peer educators’ knowledge on tuberculosis and HIV in a Malawian Prison setting before and after a two-day, case-based training session. This study provides an objective measure of peer educator knowledge and effectiveness of a case-based training intervention to improve participant recall. Results will be disseminated via report and/or presentation to the prison medical staff, University of Malawi College of Medicine Research and Ethics Committee, and the Reach for Research Excellence Seminar at Columbia University School of Nursing, and submitted for peer-reviewed presentations and a publication.