Maria Katapodi, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N.

Maria Katapodi, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N. is a Professor at the University of Basel Institute of Nursing Science/Faculty of Medicine in Switzerland. She completed her bachelor’s degree in nursing at the University of Athens, Greece, and came to United States as a Fulbright Scholar to pursue graduate studies at the University of California San Francisco.  She was awarded a Master’s in Oncology Nursing and a Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing Science, with minor degrees in Adult Education and Oncology Genetics.  Her dissertation explored cognitive patterns that affect perceived risk and decision-making for breast cancer early detection.  It was published in “Preventive Medicine” “Social Science and Medicine”, “Oncology Nursing Forum”, and “Cancer Nursing”  and received the 2010 Oncology Nursing Society Excellence in Writing Award for Quantitative Nursing Research. 

In 2010, Dr. Katapodi completed training at the Summer Genetics Institute, at the National Institute of Nursing Research.  Her program of research integrates oncology genomics, decision-making, and family communication.  Her intervention aims to facilitate family communication and decision-making around genetic testing for women that carry a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation and their at-risk female relatives.  Her long-term career goal is to use her program of research and her expertise in meta-analysis, to facilitate the translation of genomics into evidence-based nursing practice.