Dyanne Affonso, Ph.D. Named to Dorothy Hodges Olson
Endowed Chair At UNMC College of Nursing
Dyanne Affonso, Ph.D. has joined the University of Nebraska Medical
Center College of Nursing as the first Dorothy Hodges Olson Endowed Chair.
Dr. Affonso, who has an international reputation for her work with mothers
and their young children, has served as dean of Emory Universitys School
of Nursing the past six years. Prior to this, she worked at the University
of California, San Francisco and the University of Arizona.
The endowed chair, the first at UNMCs College of Nursing, is part of
a gift from Dr. Leland and Dorothy Olson of Omaha. The Olsons have been
generous supporters of UNMC, funding the Olson Center for Womens Health
and the research arm of the Lied Transplant Center. The chair for the College
of Nursing is endowed for $1 million, which ranks among the top nursing
chairs in the country.
Dr. Affonso, who received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the
University of Arizona, holds nearly $1 million in total external research
grants and has written three books relating to childbirth or raising children
and more than 50 journal articles.
Her research efforts at UNMC will focus on school-based violence prevention,
community-based prenatal care programs to reconcile infant and maternal
morbidity rates, and testing models of patient care services to obtain
better outcomes.
The UNMC College of Nursing is the largest nursing college in the state
with a total of more than 700 students at its Omaha, Lincoln, Kearney and
Scottsbluff campus sites. It is the only nursing school in the state to
offer undergraduate, masters and doctoral degrees. Through distance technology,
students can access class and clinical learning opportunities in their
geographic areas.
UNMC is the only public academic health science center in the state.
Through its commitment to research, education, outreach and patient care,
UNMC has established itself as one of the country’s leading centers for
cancer research and treatment and solid organ transplantation. Nearly $31
million in research grants and contracts were awarded to UNMC scientists
during the past fiscal year. In addition, UNMC’s educational programs are
responsible for training more health professionals practicing in Nebraska
than any other institution.