Two School of Nursing Faculty Members Selected as Fellows of American Academy of Nurs

Mary G. Carey, Ph.D., R.N., C.N.S, F.A.H.A., associate professor, and Daryl Sharp, Ph.D., N.P.P., P.M.H.C.N.S.-B.C., professor of clinical nursing and director of care management for URMC’s Accountable Health Partners, were recently selected to be inducted as fellows of the American Academy of Nursing (AAN). Selection to the academy is one of the highest honors in the field of nursing. The AAN is composed of more than 2,200 of the nation’s top nurse researchers, policy makers, scholars, executives, educators and practitioners. Carey and Sharp will be inducted during the academy’s annual meeting and conference on Oct. 18, 2014, in Washington, D.C.

Carey, who joined the School of Nursing faculty in 2013, has been a leader through her teaching endeavors, research pursuits and community activities. Her research has focused on improving electrocardiographic (ECG) monitoring to help better detect disease conditions such as cardiac arrhythmias and myocardial ischemia and infarction; and on the ECG’s use in predicting cardiac events and sudden cardiac death. With funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Carey has improved the detection of myocardial ischemia in patients with and without heart disease. Currently, Carey is leading a research team to apply cardiac monitors to healthy on-duty firefighters in the Rochester community to evaluate whether a more restful sleep environment will help to lower their average heart rate and cardiac risk.

 

Her years of clinical experience in a trauma ICU not only shaped her career as a researcher but enhanced her ability to mentor doctoral students and help them become first rate scientists. As associate director of the Clinical Nursing Research Center at Strong, Carey helps fuel nurses’ scientific aspirations early in their careers and instill a commitment to delivering high quality care to patients and families.

 

Before her role at the University of Rochester, Carey founded the Cardiovascular Research Lab at the University of Buffalo where she mentored undergraduate and graduate students in the field of electrocardiology. The recipient of the 2012 Nurse of Distinction for District I of the New York State Nurses Association, Carey’s scholarly contributions have informed the understanding of cardiac risk factors on a national and international level. She holds a bachelor’s degree of nursing from SUNY Buffalo, and earned her master’s and PhD degrees of nursing from the University of California, San Francisco.

Sharp, a researcher, professor, mentor and psychiatric nurse clinician, has made significant contributions to improve the quality of health care, and has recently been tasked with directing care management for Accountable Health Partners (AHP). She will work to develop and advance health management and care coordination within the clinically-integrated network in order to achieve better patient outcomes and enhance the patient experience. Sharp will continue her role as faculty member at the School of Nursing and in the Center for Community Health where she holds a secondary appointment and serves as director of quality and education for the Healthy Living Center.

Most recently, Sharp served three years on the School’s senior administrative team as associate dean for Faculty Development & Diversity. In that capacity, she cultivated an environment that values and fosters diversity and inclusion. The School presented her with the Mary Dombeck Diversity Enhancement Award in May.

 

She was also the founding director of the University of Rochester Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program, the pinnacle of advanced education for professional nurses. The DNP helps prepare nurses to lead clinical systems in translating the latest research to their practice and to evaluate outcomes, whether at the bedside or in a community setting.

 

Through nursing education and research, Sharp has been a trailblazer in her efforts to help people living with psychiatric disorders reduce and eliminate their dependence on tobacco. An advanced practice psychiatric nurse and elected fellow of the National Academies of Practice, Sharp created the first national program to stop epidemic use of tobacco by people with severe mental illness, establishing psychiatric nursing as a leader in delivering evidence-based tobacco dependence interventions. She is founding chair and co-chair of the Tobacco Dependence Council of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA) and recently mobilized a national coalition in the Virtual Nursing Academy of APNA Champions for Smoking Cessation. She earned her bachelor of science degree from the University of Delaware, her master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and a PhD in nursing from the University of Rochester.