This site is an archive of a closed Robert Wood Johnson Foundation program, provided for educational and historical purposes. Please note that this content is not routinely updated and that contact information and social links may not work.

J. Margo Brooks Carthon, Ph.D., A.P.R.N. Selected as a 2013 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholar

NEWS  RELEASE                                                                                                                           Contact: Gretchen Wright September 11, 2013                                                                                                                                      202/371-1999

                                                       University of Pennsylvania’s Brooks Carthon Named a 2013                                                         Robert Wood Johnson Foundation ‘Nurse Faculty Scholar’

                                                           Health Equity Researcher Selected for Prestigious Program that                                                                    Advances Careers of Talented Junior Nurse Faculty

J. Margo Brooks Carthon, PhD, APN, an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania, is one of just 12 nursing educators from across the United States to win a highly competitive grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Nurse Faculty Scholars program this year. Brooks Carthon will receive a three-year, $350,000 award to promote her academic career and support her research. The Nurse Faculty Scholar award is given to junior faculty who show outstanding promise as future leaders in academic nursing.

“This award from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation provides a wonderful opportunity to examine a serious public health problem that affects thousands of older minorities—avoidable re-hospitalizations. This study will employ a mixed-methods study design to elicit viewpoints through focus group interviews from West Philadelphia members of the Program for All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, or PACE. The study will also evaluate survey responses of nurses from hospitals in California, Florida, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Capturing the experiences of individuals post-discharge as well as the perspectives of hospital-based nurses can help us understand the complexities that surround the ‘revolving door’ of hospital readmissions. Results from the study will identify the post-discharge health needs of older minorities and elicit how nurse resources are best employed to reduce readmission disparities.”

“The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholar program will provide the necessary support for me to establish a program of research dedicated to improving health outcomes for racial and ethnic minorities by identifying ways to improve the delivery of nursing care resources,” Brooks Carthon added.   The RWJF Nurse Faculty Scholars program is strengthening the academic productivity and overall excellence of nursing schools by developing the next generation of leaders in academic nursing. Brooks Carthon is part of the program’s sixth cohort. Supporting junior nurse faculty will help curb a shortage of nurse educators that could undermine the health and health care of all Americans. The Affordable Care Act is vastly increasing the number of people who can access health care in the United States. As the number of patients increases, there will be greater demand for skilled nurses as well as faculty to educate them.

Right now, many schools of nursing are turning away qualified applicants because they do not have the faculty to teach them. The RWJF Nurse Faculty Scholars program is helping more junior faculty succeed in, and commit to, academic careers. The program also enhances the stature of the scholars’ academic institutions, which will benefit fellow nurse educators seeking professional development opportunities.

To receive the award, scholars must be registered nurses who have completed a research doctorate in nursing or a related discipline and who have held a tenure-eligible faculty position at an accredited nursing school for at least two and no more than five years.

The Nurse Faculty Scholars also support the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, which is engaging nurses and nurse champions in a nationwide effort to improve health care by implementing recommendations from the groundbreaking Institute of Medicine report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. The Campaign for Action is backed by RWJF and AARP, and has Action Coalitions working in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.  

The Nurse Faculty Scholars program is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and administered through the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing. It is directed by Jacquelyn Campbell, PhD, RN, FAAN, who is the Anna D. Wolf chair and professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing.  

To learn more about the program, visit www.nursefacultyscholars.org.

                                                                                                  # # # #

About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, measurable, and timely change. For more than 40 years the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org. Follow the Foundation on Twitter at www.rwjf.org/twitter or on Facebook at www.rwjf.org/facebook.