Nursing faculty member to be inducted into Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame

UIC College of Nursing professor Susan Dunn will be inducted into the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing (Sigma). She is one of 30 world-renowned nurse researchers selected for the honor in 2024.

Hall of Fame inductees are nurse researchers who have achieved significant and sustained national or international recognition and whose research has improved the profession of nursing and the people it serves.

The Hall of Fame induction will take place during the organization’s 35th International Nursing Research Congress in Singapore on July 27.

“These inspiring, trailblazing nurse researchers embody the collective impact of nursing research on global health care,” Sandra C. Garmon Bibb, Sigma president, said in a news release.

Dunn’s program of research focuses on hopelessness in patients with ischemic heart disease. She developed and tested the State and Trait Hopelessness Scale, currently used by researchers and clinicians throughout the world. Her research, in collaboration with interdisciplinary colleagues, was the first to identify hopelessness as a predictor of decreased home-based exercise in patients with heart disease. This research led to her NIH-funded study examining the effectiveness of a motivational intervention called Heart Up!, aimed to decrease hopelessness through increased physical activity.

This year’s inductees, who represent Australia, Canada, Denmark, Hong Kong, Italy, Singapore, Taiwan, and the U.S., will join 300 previously inducted nurse researchers.

Dunn will be the 12th faculty member or alumna from the UIC College of Nursing to be inducted, a list that includes UIC Nursing Dean Eileen Collins, Harriet H. Werley Endowed Chair for Nursing Research Ardith Doorenbos and Katherine M. Minnich Endowed Professor Laurie Quinn.

— Written by Deborah Ziff Soriano