Dr. Salyer has been exceptionally productive in two major areas of research focus, the first being in the area of nursing systems. She demonstrated outstanding productivity in this area in three short postdoctoral years. Early success was achieved with two major publications and four peer-reviewed presentations of her dissertation work on environmental turbulence and nurse performance.

She next served as a Project Manger for the NINR-funded study, Outcomes Research in Nursing Administration (Dr. Barbara Mark, Principal Investigator). In this capacity, Dr. Salyer was exceptionally productive in advancing knowledge of nursing systems, as evidenced by her significant contributions to 10 publications as well as numerous presentations. Two independent research projects related to nursing systems were conducted during this period, and each was presented and published.

Just five years ago, Dr. Salyer shifted her focus to a program of clinical research. She now evidences a rapidly evolving program of research related to health promotion and quality of life among persons with chronic illness, most recently for persons having organ transplants. In this relatively brief time frame, she has been principal investigator or co-investigator for six studies. All of these studies have been funded, four intramurally (two Gamma Omega Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau awards, one School of Nursing Research award, and an A.D. Williams Foundation award) and two extramurally (the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation [ISHLT] and the American Nurses’ Foundation). The excellence of her ISHLT-funded study was recognized by her receipt of the Nursing Research Award from the Council on Nursing and Social Sciences.

While previous work has primarily focused on the heart transplant population, Dr. Salyer is clearly expanding her work, both conceptually and in terms of specific populations. She is currently preparing a grant application focusing on lifestyle as a protective factor in a risk and resilience model with persons having any solid organ transplant. The model on which this research is based reflects the context of organ transplantation and its influence on adjustment, including quality of life, following transplantation. This proposal incorporates and logically expands Dr. Salyer’s previous work on lifestyle, health promotion, and quality of life. She also is developing a protocol to evaluate unique biological markers of stress in the transplant population that may be incorporated into her research program. This pilot study has the potential to open new avenues for evaluating physiological stress.

In her exceptional progress toward a complex, focused program of research, Dr. Salyer has consistently demonstrated exemplary achievements over a period of time. She exemplifies the goals of knowledge development and dissemination by conducting significant studies, presenting them at national and international conferences, and quickly publishing her work.