Nurse Scientist Alhusen to be Inducted into Sigma's 2024 International Researcher Hall of Fame

Associate dean for research, NIH grantee, and nurse scientist Jeanne Alhusen is one of 30 celebrated nurse scientists from around the world to be chosen for induction into Sigma's 2024 International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame this summer in Singapore during the organization's 35th International Nursing Research Congress.

"She is an outstanding clinician, scientist, mentor, and colleague with an unwavering commitment to improving maternal and child health outcomes for those families at highest risk of inequities."

Pam Cipriano, dean emerita and president of the International Council of Nurses

Alhusen was nominated by UVA dean emerita Pam Cipriano, president of the International Council of Nurses, and several other nurse leaders, all of whom cited the impact of her groundbreaking science and its "sustained impacts on improving the care provided to perinatal persons."

"She is an outstanding clinician, scientist, mentor, and colleague with an unwavering commitment to improving maternal and child health outcomes for those families at highest risk of inequities," Cipriano said in her nomination letter, "and I have no doubt her research will continue to have substantial impacts regionally, nationally, and internationally."

Alhusen, a nurse practitioner who has earned more than $10 million in research grants as principal investigator or co-investigator across her career, studies the experiences of women living with disabilities who are disproportionately impacted by violence, and, with their children, often suffer the ill effects of these factors throughout their lives.

"Jeanne's science is her powerful case for change. That her work shines light where there is little—people living with disabilities are often overlooked when it comes to research—makes it even more important, and me even more proud. There is no one more deserving of this honor."

Dean Marianne Baernholdt

Alhusen's findings so far are stark and unsettling: more than one-third of disabled women become pregnant as a result of sexual violence; that they are nearly 20% more likely to experience an unintentional pregnancy than women without disabilities, and are 2.5 times more likely than their non-disabled peers to be victims of violence in the year leading up to pregnancy.

Alhusen was the first scientist to demonstrate the link between exposure to violence during pregnancy and infants’ risk of being born small-for-gestational-age, work that's been cited more than 4,000 times and included in the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force recommendations on screening for IPV to prevent perinatal depression. These findings, in part, also led to the CDC's recommendation that all U.S. states and territories collect data on disability in the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System. They also spurred Alhusen's appointment as chair of the American Academy of Nursing's violence expert panel and the American College of Obstetrician and Gynecologist's expert work group on maternal mental health, one of only just a few nurses to serve in this capacity.

Over the last decade alone, she's published more than 60 scholarly papers, presented at more than 20 conferences within the last five years, and is regularly sought after to provide thought leadership and expertise on the topic of disability, pregnancy, mental health, and reproductive care access. 

In addition to Alhusen's science and scholarship, she leads the Office of Nursing Research's popular summer internship program, an on-ramp for undergraduate students to both consider and move into research roles.  A noted champion of early career assistant professors and mentor to PhD in nursing students as well, Alhusen's colleagues recognize her steadfast commitment to their success, and have honored her twice in the last four years with a Research Mentoring Award.

The Sigma award, said Alhusen, "is an incredibly humbling recognition of the work I've dedicated to addressing inequities in perinatal health for people with disabilities. This honor highlights the collective effort of not only me but also the invaluable guidance and support of my mentors whose wisdom and encouragement have shaped my journey as a nurse researcher."

Alhusen cites her desire to care for others as a value inspired by family, including her parents, whose "boundless love and support have been the bedrock of [her] achievements."

Inductees for 2024 join more than 300 previously inducted nurse researchers who have achieved significant and sustained national or international recognition and whose research has improved the profession or nursing and the people it serves. Sigma has more than 100,000 active members around the world and more than 600 chapters.

"Jeanne's science is her powerful case for change," said Dean Marianne Baernholdt. "That her work shines light where there is little—people living with disabilities are often overlooked when it comes to research—makes it even more important, and me even more proud. There is no one more deserving of this honor."

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