Research Centers

Through our research centers, Penn Nursing scientists work across a wide range of disciplines from chronic illness, women’s health, and quality-of-life care to nurse staffing and public policy, and much more.

Office of Nursing Research (ONR)

In addition to our research centers, Penn Nursing faculty and students benefit from the resources, services, and support of the Office of Nursing Research. The ONR offers a comprehensive suite of services designed to support faculty and students throughout the life of a research grant—from the earliest concepts to final closeout paperwork. Grants specialists help faculty find sources of funding. And ONR staff help students discover grant opportunities, find research partners, hone grant writing skills, and connect with mentors. The ONR also provides statistical support, conducts mock reviews that result in a high success rate, and offers guidance with regulatory compliance. 

Office of Nursing Research

Barbara Bates Center for the Study of The History of Nursing

The preeminent nursing archive and research center in the world, this center uses nursing’s past to change nursing’s future by using what we’ve learned to make better policies and improve patient care.

Barbara Bates Center

Center for Global Women’s Health

This interdisciplinary center collaborates on women’s health in a global context and uses health equity as a way to focus on social justice.

Center for Global Women’s Health

Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR)

Researchers at CHOPR study health system reorganization and use research to affect policy changes to improve the quality of health care.

Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research

NewCourtland Center for Transitions and Health

Here we work on one of the top health care challenges today: how to meet the needs of patients with chronic illnesses—such as heart failure, diabetes, and depression—in a way that is humane, safe, effective, and efficient.

NewCourtland Center for Transitions and Health

 

    News from our research centers

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    Ricky and Lucy, therapeutic baby seal robots with patients at Penn Presbyterian

    Baby Seal Robots Are Comforting Older Adults on Penn Presbyterian’s Acute Care Unit

    Nurse scientist Pamela Cacchione is studying how the warm and fuzzy, embodied AI animatronics can reduce pain and agitation.

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    New Leadership Appointment for Penn Nursing Professor

    Catherine C. McDonald, PhD, RN, FAAN, has been appointed Chair of Penn Nursing’s Department of Family and Community Health effective July 1, 2024. Currently, she is the Vice-Chair of the Department and the Dr. Hildegarde Reynolds Endowed Term Chair of Primary Care Nursing.

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    The Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR) at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing invited nursing practition...

    Finding Solutions for Burnout Among Nurses of Color

    The Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the School of Nursing brought together nurses and researchers for the Solutions to Health Inequities & Nurses’ Emotional Exhaustion Invitational.

    After the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and the murder of George Floyd, J. Margo Brooks Carthon, the Tyson Family Endowed Term Chair for Gerontological Research, worked on a research study interviewing Black nurse practitioners in the greater Philadelphia area about their efforts to address inequities in care.

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    Improving Quality of Life and Sleep in People with Memory Problems Without Using Drugs

    A groundbreaking study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing), recently published in Innovation in Aging, has shown promising results in improving the quality of life (QOL) and sleep quality in individuals living with memory problems. The research delves into the efficacy of a nonpharmacological approach in a trial known as the Healthy Patterns Sleep Program.

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    Penn Collaboratory to Fund Ten New Pilot Studies on Aging

    The Penn Artificial Intelligence and Technology Collaboratory for Healthy Aging (PennAITech) – made up of Penn’s School of Nursing, the Perelman School of Medicine, and other departments across the University – focuses on identifying developing, evaluating, commercializing, and disseminating innovative technology and artificial intelligence methods/software to support aging. This is year two for the collaboratory – made possible through a grant from the National Institute on Aging – and it is providing more than $2.3 M in funding to ten pilot projects.