College of Nursing welcomes new associate dean of research

Marlene Cohen, Ph.D.

Bernice Yates, Ph.D.

Marlene Cohen, Ph.D., an expert in cancer symptom research, is the new associate dean for research and the Kenneth E. Morehead Endowed Chair in Nursing in the College of Nursing, dean Virginia Tilden, D.N.Sc., has announced.

“She is the perfect fit,” Dr. Tilden said. “Dr. Cohen’s research develops protocols to guide nursing practice for patients and families undergoing the ordeal of cancer treatment. It dovetails nicely with research already being conducted at UNMC.”

She brings extensive experience and a solid track record of success to the college’s research mission and to its partner, the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center, Dr. Tilden said.

Dr. Cohen is the first person to be named to the prestigious Morehead Endowed Chair, named in honor of Ken Morehead, who was so moved by the nursing care he received at UNMC years ago that he donated $1.75 million to the College of Nursing.

“I dedicated that money to clinical research so that whoever fills this chair will do research that makes the lives of patients, like Mr. Morehead, better,” Dr. Tilden said. “That’s exactly what Dr. Cohen’s research does.”

Dr. Yates steps down from research position Bernice Yates, Ph.D., associate professor, steps down from the position of associate dean of research, which she has held since 2001 (interim for one year prior), and director of the Niedfelt Nursing Research Center. “Although it has been a great opportunity and privilege to assist other nursing faculty in their research efforts, I now want to spend more time on my own program of research in cardiac rehabilitation,” Dr. Yates said. Dean of the College of Nursing, Virginia Tilden, D.N. Sc., said, “In these past eight years, Dr. Yates created an outstanding faculty development program in grant writing and worked tirelessly to help faculty successfully compete for large budget grants.” The college now ranks 28 out of 102 schools of nursing in the United States that receive funding from the National Institutes of Health. “She did wonderful work for the college,” Dr. Tilden said.

Dr. Cohen comes to Omaha from the University of Texas Health Science Center Houston where she was the John S. Dunn, Sr., Distinguished Professor in Oncology Nursing and chairwoman of the department of integrative nursing care. She also was professor in the department of symptom research at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

A Brooklyn native, Dr. Cohen said that she is excited about her move to Omaha.

“There is wonderful research going on here. It will be my job to help the College of Nursing faculty with the great work they are already doing — from brainstorming ideas to consulting on publications,” she said.

Dr. Cohen officially assumed her new post on Oct. 1, but she was not on campus until a few weeks later because she was presenting papers on two of her research projects recently at the National State of the Science Congress on Nursing Research in Washington. She presented her findings on the future directions for oncology symptom research and understanding distress during hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. (See sidebar)

She said she plans to pursue new research projects at UNMC.

“I met people here who are doing similar research. It feels like a good match,” she said.

Dr. Tilden agreed and thanked many on campus, including UNMC Eppley Cancer Center Director Ken Cowan, M.D., Ph.D., for helping recruit Dr. Cohen to the medical center.

Dr. Cohen will continue to be involved in research at the University of Texas, where she is a co-investigator on two National Institutes of Health/ National Cancer Institute RO1 grants that total more than $3.2 million. One grant is for the study of methylphenidate for fatigue in advanced cancer patients and the other is a randomized trial on the parenteral hydration in advanced cancer patients.

The study of hydration at the end of life examines the patient’s and family members perspectives as well as the outcomes of hydration.

“Hospice does not hydrate, but hospitals always do. Is one way better than the other? No one has determined that,” Dr. Cohen said.

The second study examines the combination of methylphenidate and a therapeutic nursing telephone call to persons with advanced cancer. The study seeks to understand what issues are most important to patients that nurses can assist with, and also which of these treatments is most effective in managing symptoms, primarily fatigue.

As director of the Niedfelt Nursing Research Center, she also plans to work with College of Nursing faculty members to apply for a center grant, develop more research teams and find innovative ways for faculty researchers to work together.

UNMC presents at national conference UNMC nursing researchers and colleagues also presented at the National State of the Science Congress on Nursing Research in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 2. The researchers and their topics were: Ann Berger, Ph.D., Niedfelt Professor and chair of adult health and illness — Behavioral Sleep Intervention During Breast Cancer Chemotherapy: Fatigue and Sleep Disturbance Outcomes — named an abstract of distinction; Barbara Swore Fletcher, Ph.D., assistant professor, adult health and illness, and Karen Schumacher, Ph.D., associate professor, community-based health — Trajectories of Anxiety in Family Caregivers of Patients Undergoing Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer; Yaewon Seo, Ph.D., assistant professor, adult health and illness, and Louise LaFramboise, Ph.D., assistant professor, adult health and illness — Predictors of Restriction, Perceived Effort, and Modification in Activities of Daily Living Among Persons With Heart Failure.

Dr. Cohen’s research focuses on the effects of nursing care on patients and their families and the refinement of specific therapeutic actions — both interpersonal and physical — that influence people’s ability to respond to symptoms and health problems.

She primarily uses phenomenological techniques, which she describes in a co-authored book, titled “Hermeneutic Phenomenological Research: A Practical Guide for Nurse Researchers,” published in 2000.

In 2001, she edited an issue of “Seminars in Oncology Nursing” in which she dealt with cultural dimensions in oncology care. Dr. Cohen is conducting collaborative research with nurses in Israel and Italy on cross-cultural aspects of symptom management and the explicit technical and technological competences required for practice in knowledge-based cultures now and into the future.

Dr. Cohen also develops programs in clinical settings to promote nursing staff scientific literacy, and enhance their publication and presentation skills.

Her most recent studies include symptom management in blood and marrow transplantation and testing interventions that are psychological adjuvants for the treatment of pain.

She is married to David Cohen, Ph.D., owner of the consulting firm, Anaplerosis Associates, Inc., that specializes in biomedical scientific research. His expertise is in the use of mathematical modeling in the study of metabolism. They have a Bedlington terrier named Sam Houston.

“He’ll have to learn to bark without a southern accent,” Dr. Cohen said.