Current Predoctoral Fellows
Carol Brotherton, MSN, BSN, RN, is enrolled
in the BSN to PhD program at the University of Virginia. She completed
the Community and Public Health Leadership master's program in December
of 2009. Her area of interest is the effect of diet on a variety of
chronic disease. As part of her master's practicum, she completed two
semesters as Visiting Scholar in the Department of Health and
Human Services' Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Fher
her PhD dissertation research she is investigating the effect of diet
on gastrointestinal function in persons with Crohn's disease.
Candace C. Johnson, MA, RN, holds
bachelor's degrees in anthropology and nursing and a master's in public
health, with research interests in access and utilization of CAM in
African American female childbearing communities. Having recently
practiced as an oncology nurse at Massey Cancer Center, she brings a
multicultural, multidisciplined approach to exploring the body of
knowledge on CAM as these relate to Black women. Candace is
currently a full-time student in the PhD program and a predoctoral
trainee in CSCAT.
Patricia Kinser, MSN, RN,
WHNP, is a doctoral student in the School of Nursing
and holds a predoctoral fellowship in the Center for the Study of
Complementary and Alternative Therapies. She is a registered
nurse, has a master's degree in nursing, and is licensed
as a Women's Health Nurse Practitioner. In addition, she is a
certified yoga instructor who teaches a variety of styles of yoga,
including "gentle" hatha yoga and prenatal yoga. Her interest is
in yoga as an effective mind-body CAM modality. In
particular, she plans to conduct research about the psychological and
physiological effects of yoga for women.
Shannon L. Riedel, MSN, RN, entered
the PhD program at the University of Virginia in Fall 2007 with a plan
of study focused on guided imagery (GI) skill development and its
application as a complementary therapy in a chronic pain population by
expanding knowledge of theory, research design, and analyses of
fibromyalgia (FM), GI, and the psychoneuroimmunology model. Ms. Riedel
has worked as a pre-doctoral trainee at the Center for the Study of
Complementary and Alternative Therapies (CSCAT) since August 2007, and
her responsibilities have included performing data analyses for an R21
grant, assisting with the preparation of a research grant for DoD; and
being a research study coordinator for a study of cranial electrical
stimulation for those with FM. Ms. Riedel has submitted an NRSA grant
proposal as well as completed a professional poster presentation
regarding GI's effect on the physical, functional, and psychological
aspects of FM to favorable feedback and scoring. Ms. Riedel is the
recent recipient of the Saraswati Fund of the Joni Boon Memorial Award,
which provided monies to further her research goals. She has a GI
certification and provides workshops in her community.
Her long-term goals include pursing research concentrating on the
use of GI and other complementary therapies in ethnically diverse and
rural populations diagnosed with chronic pain and rheumatologic
disorders as well as a nursing faculty position and continued clinical
experience in the area of mental health nursing.
Former Predoctoral Fellows
Tara A. Albrecht, PhD, MSN, RN,
conducted her dissertation research focused on improving symptom
management and quality of life in the oncology population. Her
dissertation research investigated the effects of the combination of
flaxseed oil, fasting, caffeine, and exercise in women diagnosed
with stage III or IV recurrent or multi-drug resistant ovarian
cancer. She has a bachelor of science degree in both biology and
nursing and completed her master of science degree in the Acute Care
Nurse Practitioner program at the University of Virginia in 2009. Her
experience working as an oncology nurse is what inspired her to enter
the PhD program.
Gina K. Alexander, PhD, MSN, MPH,
conducted her dissertation research on "Maintaining Yoga Practice for
Diabetes Control and Prevention," a longitudinal comparative study
exploring the factors influencing maintenance of yoga practice among
individuals with or at risk for type 2 diabetes who had completed an
8-week yoga-based intervention. Throughout her training, Dr.
Alexander participated in studies exploring the effect of yoga on
multiple physiologic and clinical markers for diabetes and
cardiovascular risk, and testing a culturally-tailored approach to
diabetes self-management education among rural African American adults
with type 2 diabetes. She is currently Assistant Professor of Nursing
at Texas Christian University.
Kathleen Boyden, PhD, RN, completed her
CSCAT fellowship in May 2003, successfully defending her dissertation
"Impact of Personality Characteristics on Pain and Functional Status in
Fibromyalgia." The purpose of this study was to determine the
extent to which personality characteristics, including affect,
absorption, and social desirability, mediate pain relief
and functional improvement as a result of static magnetic therapy
to treat fibromyalgia.
David W. Brock, PhD, holds a Bachelor of
Science in Nutrition and Dietetics and a Master of Science in Exercise
Physiology. Dr. Brock is currently an Assistant Professor of
exercise physiology at the University of Vermont, with a specialization
in clinical trials, chronic disease prevention, and public health. He
is the director of the Physical Activity Laboratory with an overarching
goal of investigating novel ways to increase physical activity
participation in adult and adolescent populations that are at risk for
chronic pathologies such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes,
and the metabolic syndrome. Although not exhaustive, current research
interests of the physical activity lab are physical activity/exercise
adherence, incentivizing behavior modification, obesity/chronic disease
prevention, and elite endurance performance.
Frances Garrett, PhD, MA, was a
doctoral student in the University of Virginia's Tibetan studies
program, part of the Department of Religious Studies. Her dissertation
investigated the origins of the human body in Tibetan literature of the
eleventh through fifteenth centuries. Using literary representations of
the body during embryonic development to emphasize the ready exchange
of scholarly discourse across Tibetan literary genres, her research
demonstrated the complex intertwining of religious and philosophical
scholasticism with medical theoretical structures. For several years,
Frances was instrumental in both planning and implementing large-scale
interdisciplinary projects focused on developing new pedagogical
strategies that use technology. A previous project developed through
CSCAT was aimed at creating a multimedia research and teaching tool for
Tibetan medicine that placed medical systems in the context of
religious, historical, environmental and other settings. This project
involved four consecutive summers of fieldwork in Tibet working with an
international, interdisciplinary team of historians, medical scholars,
and health care professionals in the U.S. and in Tibet. (See
http://iris.lib.virginia.edu/tibet/collections/medicine/index.html).
Her book, Religion, Medicine and the Human Embryo in Tibet
(Routledge, 2008), links aspects of Tibetan medicine to expressions of
culture, religion, art and literature through a study of embryology in
Tibetan literature. Her current research considers the intersections
between tantric practice, ritual and occult knowledge and medical
theory, and what these tell us about the processes of institutional and
ideological change in Tibet. Dr. Garrett has been Assistant Professor
in the Department for the Study of Religion at the University of
Toronto since 2003. She is currently Co-chair of the American Academy
of Religion's Tibetan and Himalayan Religions Group. Her articles
have addressed the implications of controversies over human development
in Tibetan scholasticism, how Tibetans reconcile medical physiology
with Buddhist descriptions of the body, and the formation of
intellectual and literary disciplinarity.
In 2009-10 she is on a sabbatical leave, living in Amdo Tibetan
regions of China.
Virginia (Ginger) Hunkin, PhD, AP, LAc,
MSOM, has a background in Oriental Medicine which includes
training in both Traditional Chinese Medicine and Traditional Japanese
Medicine, having completed post graduate certification in Japanese
Toyohari. In addition to a private practice, she was the Assistant Dean
of Academics at one of the top three Oriental Medical colleges in the
United States, the Texas College of Traditional Medicine in Austin,
Texas. Her research interests include: Oriental Medical research
methodologies, using high frequency with TCM/ TJM and the nature of
Qi.
Brian Irving, PhD, is currently an
Assistant Professor of Medicine of the Division of Endocrinology and
Metabolism. His present research direction is aimed at
understanding the short- and long-term metabolic, cardiovascular, and
proteomic adaptations to exercise. In particular, Dr.
Irving is interested in the metabolic and cardiovascular
adaptations to exercise that provide i) cardiometabolic protection and
ii) prevent and/or delay the deleterious impact that aging, physical
inactivity, and obesity have on skeletal muscle function and
metabolism. After completing one year of postdoctoral
training, he received a NIH Mentored-Career Development Grant to
examine the independent and combined effects of resistance and
endurance exercise training on protein synthesis rates of individual
mitochondrial and contractile proteins in young and older
participants.
Nancy Jallo, PhD, RNC, FN-P-BC, CNS, is
currently an Assistant Professor at the Virginia Commonwealth
University School of Nursing in the Department of Family and Community
Health Nursing.
Randy A. Jones, PhD, MSN, RN, is
currently an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing at the
University of Virginia and a recent recipient of the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholar Award to further test a
decision aid for patients with advanced-stage prostate cancer to
facilitate informed, shared decisions about treatments that affect
their quality of life. He holds a master's degree in psychiatric
mental health nursing. He is active in the African American
community and has research interests in healthcare disparities among
minority populations, particularly African American males who have
prostate cancer.
Susan Kennel, PhD, RN, ARNP, is currently
Assistant Professor and Director of Child Health at the
University of South Florida College of Nursing.
Yu-Shen Lin, PhD, RN, completed her
fellowship with the CSCAT in 1998. Her dissertation was titled
"Effects of Therapeutic Touch in Reducing Pain and Anxiety in an
Elderly Population." Yu-Shin is currently a clinical research analyst
for DynCorp Healthcare Information and Tehnology Services in Rockville,
Maryland.
Eric McVey, PhD, research interests are the
neuromuscular consequences of joint injury, specifically, arthrogenic
muscle inhibition in muscles of the lower extremity. Further research
has been conducted to examine the possibility of using cryotherapy to
enhance muscle activation in subjects with arthrogenic muscle
inhibition using the Hoffmann reflex (H-reflex) and the superimposed
burst technique.
Victoria Menzies, PhD, EdM, MSN, has worked with
Dr. Ann Gill Taylor and CSCAT as a research and teaching
assistant. Victoria has been active in the Beta Kappa Chapter of
Sigma Theta Tau International , serving as president of the
chapter. Additionally, she has served as a research assistant for
the American Pain Society in the development of new Fibromyalgia Pain
Guidelines and the updating of current Cancer Pain Guidelines.
Victoria continues her contributions to nursing scholarship through
teaching, research and service as a faculty member at Virginia
Commonwealth University. Her research focuses on exploring the
effects of mind/body modalities, including guided imagery and music,
for pain and other symptom management in the chronically ill.
Karen M. Rose, PhD, MSN, RN
Audrey
Snyder, PhD, RN, ACNP-CS, FAANP, CMT, earned her doctoral
degree in Nursing at the University of Virginia in 2007. She is
currently a Robert's Scholar at UVA School of Nursing. She teaches in
both the undergraduate and graduate nursing programs. Her nursing
background expands critical care, emergency and flight nursing. Dr.
Snyder brings over 25 years of nursing experience in the acute care
environment and 13 years as a massage therapist to her research role.
Dr. Snyder's current research interest lie in the use of complementary
therapies, especially massage, as a supportive care therapy in patients
with hematological cancers with the goal of reducing disease-and
treatment-related symptoms and improving the health related quality of
life for patients and their caregivers while undergoing chemotherapy.
She is interested in massage as a touch therapy in the acute care
environment.
She is also the Nurse Advisor for the University of Virginia Health
System's Community Outreach Program, coordinating the nursing care for
the Medical Clinic at the largest mobile health clinic-Remote Area
Medical (RAM) each summer. In 2009, Massage Therapy was offered for the
first time to patients at this rural health clinic.
Diana M. Taibi, PhD, MSN, RN,
worked for several years with Cheryl Bourguignon investigating symptom
patterns in women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and is currently a
faculty member at the University of Washington School of Nursing. She
is interested in the potential use of CAM modalities for reducing pain,
fatigue, and sleep disturbances in persons with RA, including the
effects of valerian root on improving the sleep of persons with RA.
MAJ Terri L. Yost, PhD, MSN, FNP-BC, was a
government-sponsored full time PhD student at the University of
Virginia School of Nursing. She received her Masters degree at
the University of Pennsylvania and had been practicing as a family
nurse practitioner in Tripler Amry Medical Center in Hawaii prior to
starting the PhD program in 2008. Her dissertation examined the
effects of qigong in soldiers who endured a mild traumatic brain injury
or concussion during their deployments to either Iraq or
Afghanistan. Upon completion of her PhD, Terri resumed her career
in the United States Army and continuing deployment-related
health research.
