Going into spring 2021, GW Nursing faced the impending retirement of Dr. Jeanne Geiger-Brown as associate dean for research (ADR). A search team, led by Professor Angie McNelis, took up the charge of evaluating candidates to take over a role that has become increasingly pivotal with the school experiencing record increases in grant funding in recent years. After an exhaustive search, Dr. McNelis and team named Dr. Kathleen Griffith as the new ADR and her tenure began on June 1.
In her new position, Dr. Griffith will provide strategic leadership to support development of capacity and excellence in achieving the school’s research goals and objectives. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and has been an associate professor of nursing at GW since 2017. She also serves as the inaugural assistant dean for the GW Nursing Ph.D. program, a role she graciously agreed to continue until a replacement is named. Dr. Griffith’s scientific focus is on management of symptoms related to cancer and its treatment. Her interdisciplinary research is based at the Baltimore Veterans Administration Geriatric Research and Education Clinical Center and the George Washington University Cancer Center, where she has a secondary appointment as associate professor of medicine.
We recently asked Dr. Griffith about her new role.
Q. What do you see as your highest priorities as you enter this role (e.g., help researchers secure funding, publicity around research)?
A. I have been at the university for a few years and have a general idea of the GW research landscape. Our new faculty-informed GW Nursing strategic plan for research, which is currently undergoing a comment period, will be a rich source of information about priorities. I will also be meeting with faculty individually and in groups to learn about their needs and ideas. In this way, the GW Nursing Office of Research will incorporate perspectives of all faculty who are invested in growing the school’s research enterprise.
Q. More specifically, are there research subject areas that you will prioritize (e.g., health disparities, cancer, kidney disease)?
A. I believe that the GW Nursing research portfolio will continue to grow in the topic areas of highly funded faculty. The current and future areas of research emphasis will position our school to develop high quality training for Ph.D. students and eventually post-docs. I see the growth of research funding at our school as coming from two places: through increased investigator-initiated, extramurally funded research and through training grants for undergraduate and graduate students. In addition, a strong partnership between the GW Nursing Office of Research and the Office of Educational Research and Innovation will leverage the collective talent of our faculty for joint initiatives.
Q. What excites you most about taking on this role?
A. At this early point, my enthusiasm about leading the GW Nursing Office of Research is about operationalizing the research success of our faculty, which will mean something different to each person. I am committed to providing the structures that faculty need to catalyze their research productivity, which will further the mission of the school and university.