Therese S. Richmond, PhD, CRNP, FAAN, the Andrea B. Laporte Professor of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, received the Claire M. Fagin Distinguished Researcher Award on April 28 at the University.
The annual award, established in 2003 to honor the best scholarly qualities that Professor Claire M. Fagin exemplified in her long, productive career, is given to a Penn Nursing faculty member who has made a distinguished contribution to nursing scholarship.
Dr. Richmond has an extensive body of research that focuses on improving outcomes after injury by better understanding the complex interaction between physical injury and post-injury psychological consequences.
"There is no one who hasn't been touched either directly or indirectly by trauma, and Dr. Richmond's work in this area is groundbreaking and emotionally evocative at the same time," said Claire M. Fagin. She added, "Richmond is another star on the firmament."
After Dr. Richmond received her award, she gave a presentation on her work, titled "Life is Fragile, Handle with Care: The Science of Injury, Violence and Recovery".
Dr. Richmond is associate director of the Biobehavioral Research Center and director of the Hillman Scholars Program in Nursing innovation at Penn Nursing. Her research provides clear evidence that post-injury psychological disorders emerge after injury and significantly contribute to poor outcomes such as injury recidivism and excess disability. Dr. Richmond and her team have developed a predictive screener that identifies those injured patients at highest risk for the future emergence of depression and post-traumatic stress months after hospital discharge. This is an important step in targeting limited resources to people who are most in need. She focuses her current research on vulnerable groups in urban environments who are at disproportionately high risk for sub-optimal outcomes by systematically examining biological, individual, institutional, and environmental risk and protective factors.
Dr. Richmond has developed a program of research that focuses on violence with a specific focus on firearm violence and communities affected by pervasive violence. She believes that violence is the culmination of complex pathways that can best be solved by integrated, interdisciplinary approaches to science. She collaborates with colleagues across campus, the country, and worldwide. In 1997, she co-founded the Firearm & Injury Center at Penn (FICAP) with C. William Schwab, MD and created an interdisciplinary research center to prevent violence and to reduce its impact on individuals, families and communities. Currently, Dr. Richmond serves on the Executive Committee of the PENN Injury Science center, a CDC-funded interdisciplinary injury control and research center situated in Penn Medicine, Penn Nursing, and Penn Criminology.
Dr. Richmond's research contributions have been recognized by the American Association of Critical Care Nurses Excellence in Research Award, the AACN General Electric Healthcare Pioneering Spirit Award, the ENRS Distinguished Contributions to Research Award, and by her induction into the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame.
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