Dr. Judith Haber is Ursula Springer Professor of Nursing Leadership; Dr. Susan Gennaro is Florence and William Downs Professor in Nursing Research
New York, N.Y. - With the start of the spring 2006 semester, NYU College of Nursing has promoted Dr. Judith Haber, a long-time faculty member, and recruited Dr. Susan Gennaro from the University of Pennsylvania to fill two prestigious new chairs established by renowned leaders in the nursing field.
With her promotion to the Ursula Springer Professorship of Nursing Research, Judith Haber, APRN-BC, PhD, FAAN, associate dean of graduate programs for the NYU College of Nursing, began a new phase in her highly lauded career. Dr. Haber, a family therapist and NYU faculty member since 1994, is known for her extensive research in the areas of family-theory tool development and in the physical and psychosocial adjustment to illness, particularly among women with breast cancer. She recently received two top honors from the American Psychiatric Nurses Association: the Psychiatric Nurse of the Year award (which was granted to her for the second time in a decade) and the 2005-6 Excellence in Research Award. The latter was bestowed for her book Nursing Research: Methods and Critical Appraisal for Evidence-Based Practice, 6th Edition, which she co-authored with Geri LoBiondo-Wood, PhD, RN, FAAN.
Dr. Haber is the previous recipient of two American Journal of Nursing awards for earlier editions of the same book, which has been translated into four languages. She has been recognized with numerous additional professional awards including the Hildegarde Peplau Award from the American Nurses Association (1998), the President’s Award from the Connecticut Society of Nurse Psychotherapists (1996), and the Distinguished Alumnae Award from Adelphi University (1998). Dr. Haber is a double alumna of NYU, having received a master’s degree in adult psychiatric nursing with a minor in education in 1967, and a doctorate in nursing in 1984.
The Springer chair was endowed by Dr. Ursula Springer, the former president of Springer Publishing. Dr. Springer ran the health and science publisher from 1970 to 2004 and made considerable contributions to nursing education by advancing and disseminating nursing knowledge through its great support of nursing authors.
“It is a particular honor to be recognized with this professorship,” says Dr. Haber. “I have great regard for Ursula Springer, who has been such an outstanding leader in nursing publishing.”
Susan Gennaro, DSN, RN, FAAN, joined the NYU College of Nursing faculty on January 1, 2006, as the Florence and William Downs Professor in Nursing Research. Dr. Gennaro is a perinatal nurse whose research focuses on the causes and consequences of stress in families with preterm infants. Her contributions, which have improved the care given to mothers of preterm infants both before and after the infants’ birth, were recognized in 2001 by the Distinguished Service Award of the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses-the highest award given by that organization.
For Dr. Gennaro, who was mentored for many years by Dr. Florence Downs and was her close personal friend, the pairing-while a very unusual confluence of events-was meant to be.
“Dr. Downs was a very dear friend of mine, and she was very encouraging of my coming to NYU,” says Dr. Gennaro. “I was looking forward to being close to her geographically, but I never realized I would sit in her chair.”
Florence S. Downs, EDd, FAAN, was a very distinguished alumna and former professor at the NYU College of Nursing, who died on September 8, 2005. Shortly before her death, she endowed the professorship to support the engagement of a faculty member who conducts significant research related to health and nursing. In doing so, she also sought to encourage other alumni to join in supporting the college. Dr. Downs herself shaped doctoral nursing education nationally and internationally through her long teaching career and prolific publishing. She worked as a public health nurse, professor and director of post-master’s programs and research at NYU, and editor of Nursing Research, where she also contributed a 17-year series of editorials.
At the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Gennaro directed both the perinatal and nursing doctoral programs. In addition to studying issues related to stress and prematurity, Dr. Gennaro has focused her research on improving outcomes for women through better practices during labor and delivery and on improving the health of childbearing women globally, with studies in Malawi, Uganda, and the Ukraine. She serves on the Nurse Advisory Committee to the March of Dimes and has worked with the organization to improve training of local caregivers in prenatal care.
Dr. Gennaro has been funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research, the Office of Women’s Health at the National Institute of Health, Sigma Theta Tau International, and by private foundations, and she has been recognized with numerous awards for excellence including, most recently, the Lenore Rowe Williams Award from the University of Pennsylvania in 2005 for her contributions to global women’s health.