• Hometown: Springfield, Illinois
• Faculty advisor: Amany A. Farag, PhD, RN, Associate Professor, College of Nursing
• What is your degree program and expected graduate date? PhD, Nursing. December 2021.
• Please describe your research: I am analyzing the electronic health record data of 2,400 women ages 65 and older who received community nurse circulation care management via home visits. The goal of my research is to identify and describe both the subgroups of women within the sample who share common characteristics as well as the intervention approaches delivered to these women in order to link circulation outcomes to the subgroups and the approaches used in home settings.
• In simple terms, why does this research matter? With projected costs of $1.1 trillion by 2035, circulation problems are the leading causes of illness, death, avoidable hospitalizations, and lower life quality for older women. Three primary shortcomings argued as having led to insufficient understanding of older women’s circulation health experiences and contributed to the lack of associated health improvements include the inadequate representation of women in circulation research, the mis-assumption that population-based interventions are equally effective across individuals, and the lack of data from real-world settings. My research addresses these shortcomings by focusing on older women, identifying and describing distinct subgroups of women and the intervention approaches received, and analyzing data gathered from older women’s home environment during routine nursing care for circulation problems in association with the women’s circulation health outcomes.
• How soon after starting at the University of Iowa were you able to participate in research? I was first involved with University research during the second semester of my first year in the PhD Program.
• How has being involved in research made you more successful at the University of Iowa? Involvement in research has exposed me to multiple and diverse research methodologies, expanded my networking across the research, healthcare, and transdisciplinary communities, and supported my skill building as a researcher.
• What are your career plans after graduation? I hope to continue and expand my investigations into the circulation health experiences of older women, deepen my involvement in the community health sector, and assist other researchers with their programs of study.

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