International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame

Created in 2010, the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame recognizes nurse researchers who have achieved significant and sustained national or international recognition and whose research has improved the profession and the people it serves. Hall of Fame honorees are inducted annually at Sigma’s International Nursing Research Congress where nearly 1,000 nurse researchers, students, clinicians, and leaders learn from evidence-based research presentations. Award presentation sponsored by Wiley.

2025 Hall of Fame Inductees  


Cheryl Chia-Hui ChenCheryl Chia-Hui Chen, DNSc, RN, GNP-BC, FAAN

Professor and Director
National Taiwan University School of Nursing and National Taiwan University Hospital Department of Nursing
Taipei, Taiwan

Research areas: interventions that significantly reduce the risks of delirium, frailty, and hospital-acquired complications while enhancing recovery and survival for older adults facing critical illnesses

 

Wai-Tong ChienWai-Tong Chien, PhD, MPhil, PGDip(NEd), BN(Hons), RMN, FAAN, FHKAN

Director and Professor
Nethersole School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong 
Hong Kong

Research areas: effects of psychoeducation, motivational interviewing, mindfulness-based, mutual support group, and other psychosocial intervention programs for community-resided people with various mental health problems and their family members in Chinese communities; co-developed an AI-driven Acceptance and Commitment Therapy(ACT)-based mental health support system in mobile apps to manage emotional and psychological challenges of parents with autistic and other neurodevelopment problems 

 

Vanessa HeaslipVanessa Heaslip, PhD, DN, MA, BSc (Hons), RN, DipHE

Professor of Nursing and Healthcare Equity
University of Salford
Salford, England

Research areas: communities, specifically with a variety of groups including Gypsy, Roma, and Travellers, people living with mental health issues, people in prison and people from ethnic and racialized communities, who experience health inequity and social exclusion and whose voices are traditionally not heard in the academic and professional discourse 

 

Alison KitsonAlison Kitson, DPhil, BSc(Hons), RN, FRCN, FAAN, FAAHMS

Chair of the International Learning Collaborative (ILC), Foundation Director 2019-2024, Caring Futures Institute, Inaugural Vice President and Executive Dean 2017-2024
College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University
Bedford Park, Adelaide, Australia

Research areas: theoretical ideas around care delivery and in particular person-centered fundamental care into everyday practice improvements; developing, testing, and refining the integrated Promoting Action on Research Implementation Framework (or i-PARIHS Framework), an implementation framework that has been widely and successfully used to enable research evidence to be put into everyday practice 

 

Pamela Martyn-NemethPamela Martyn-Nemeth, PhD, RN

Professor
University of Illinois Chicago
Chicago, Illinois, USA

Research areas: fear of hypoglycemia as a major stressor, and poor sleep as a modifiable behavior that influences self-care and glucose control and reduces cardiovascular risk in people with type 1 diabetes 

 

Mercy MumbaMercy Ngosa Mumba, PhD, RN, FAAN

Professor and Associate Dean of Global Initiatives and Community Partnerships, Founding Director of the Center for Substance Use Research and Related Conditions
The University of Alabama Capstone College of Nursing
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA

Research areas: substance use and addiction disorders, mental health, and psychosocial well-being of individuals, communities, and populations

 

LaRon NelsonLaRon E. Nelson, PhD, FNP, RN, FNAP, FNYAM, FAAN

Independence Foundation Professor
Yale School of Nursing
New Haven, Connecticut, USA

Research areas: developing and testing multi-level intervention strategies to help stop the spread of HIV in the United States, Canada, and Ghana 

 

Patrice NicholasPatrice K. Nicholas, DNSc, RN, DHL (Hon.), MPH, MS, FAAN

Distinguished Teaching Professor Emerita and Director Emerita, Center for Climate Change, Climate Justice, and Health
MGH Institute of Health Professions School of Nursing
Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA

Research areas: global health issues; HIV symptom management and quality of life; and climate change, climate justice, and health 


Kavita RadhakrishnanKavita Radhakrishnan, PhD, RN, FAAN, FAHA

Associate Dean for Research
The University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing
Austin, Texas, USA

Research areas: advancing the science of technologyassisted interventions to improve self-management behaviors and outcomes of patients with cardiovascular diseases such as heart failure and hypertension; the long-term goal of her research is to develop affordable and scalable health interventions that enable “aging in place”

 

Karen SabanKaren Saban, PhD, RN

Professor and Associate Dean for Research and Scholarly Innovation
Loyola University Chicago, Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing
Chicago, Illinois, USA

Research areas: chronic social stress and inflammation in underrepresented women; social context and inflammation as mechanisms to explain disparities in cardiovascular disease in underrepresented women, which led to an examination of interventions to improve wellbeing and ameliorate chronic stress-related inflammation associated with discrimination and racism 

 

Hudson SantosHudson Santos, PhD, RN, FABMR, FAAN

Dean and Professor, Dolores J. Chambreau Endowed Chair 
University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies
Coral Gables, Florida, USA

Research areas: the interaction of psychosocial and biological dimensions of early-life adversity with the genome to shape perinatal and child health outcomes, which led to early intervention strategies that are integrated into care for high-risk and racially diverse populations 

 

Maria ShireyMaria R. Shirey, PhD, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, ANEF, FACHE, FNAP, FAAN

Dean and Professor
The University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing
Birmingham, Alabama, USA

Research areas: leadership science and health services outcomes across the health care continuum in nurse manager work complexity and succession planning as well as organizational leadership and care delivery design 

 

Jennifer StinsonJennifer N. Stinson, PhD, RN-EC, CPNP, FCAHS, FAAN

Professor and Senior Scientist
Lawrence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing,
University of Toronto, and Hospital for Sick Children
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Research areas: equitable co-design and development of digital therapeutics for the assessment and management (e.g., pain apps, virtual reality, robots) of pain in youth with chronic conditions, as well as the development of patient-reported outcome measures (i.e., Pediatric PainSCAN to screen kids for nerve pain) 

 

Marcia Van RiperMarcia L. Van Riper, PhD, RN, FAAN

Professor
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA

Research areas: the family experience of being tested for and living with a genetic condition to increase awareness of how families influence, and are influenced by, genetic conditions; focus on adaptation and resilience in families of individuals with Down syndrome; findings from her multilevel, multidimensional studies grounded in family frameworks have provided an evidence base for the development of interventions, practice guidelines, and policies that build on the strengths of these families, while still recognizing the challenges of caring for an individual with Down syndrome 

 

Kristi WilliamsKristine N. Williams, PhD, RN, FNP-BC, FGSA, FAAN

E. Jean Hill Professor
University of Kansas School of Nursing
Kansas City, Kansas, USA

Research areas: linked nursing home staff use of elderspeak communication (sounds like baby talk) with behavioral and psychological responses of nursing home residents living with dementia and established that increasing staff awareness of elderspeak and its negative effects reduced their elderspeak use as well as behavioral responses in nursing home residents with dementia 

 

Emerging Nurse Researchers and Scholars

Created in 2015 and revised in 2019, the Emerging Nurse Researcher/Scholar Award recognizes early career nurse researchers and scholars from each of Sigma’s seven global regions whose research or scholarship has influenced the nursing profession and the people it serves. These early career nurse researchers represent all seven of Sigma’s global regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America/Caribbean, Middle East, North America, and Oceania.