Senior Investigator
Research Award 2001-02
Dr. Nancy McCain,
Ph.D., Professor, Adult Health
Dr. McCain’s program of research
exemplifies a long-term pattern of significant
achievements. Since 1988 her scholarship
and professional development have been clearly
focused on psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) and
PNI-based stress management in persons with
HIV disease. Her research program has evolved
to a level of complexity and excellence
recognized by funding of a third R01 grant
from the National Institutes of Health.
In 1988, she began developing a research
program beginning with
a phenomenological study, focused on stress
and coping in persons with HIV disease,
followed by an experimental pilot study
of stress management interventions.
In 1990, she successfully competed for
a
50 percent appointment as a Center Scientist
in the Center for Nursing Research at the
Medical College of Georgia in order
to augment her efforts in competing for
extramural research funding. In 1992 she
pursued postdoctoral training to further
advance her research trajectory.
During a three-year postdoctoral fellowship
under the sponsorship of Dr. Janice Zeller
at Rush University/Rush-Presbyterian-St.
Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago,
McCain's efforts were focused in PNI, particularly
as applied to stress and coping in the HIV-infected
population. While at Rush, Dr. McCain was
awarded competitive intramural funding of
$10,000 in addition to the fellowship funds
to conduct a stress management study within
the PNI framework.
After joining the VCU faculty in 1995,
competitive intramural funding from the
A.D. Williams Foundation and the
School of Nursing enabled pilot
work sufficient to support a major extramural
grant application. With a well-qualified
and dedicated interdisciplinary team, she
served as principal investigator from [1996-99]
for an R01 award of approximately $853,000
from the National Institute of Nursing
Research
(NINR) for the study of “PNI-based
Stress Management Interventions in HIV
Disease.”
A second supplemental R01 grant of approximately
$182,000 was awarded by NINR in 1997 with
three years’ funding for the additional
study of “Viral Load and Stress
Management in HIV Disease.” She
and her colleagues have presented this
research at national
and international conferences, and several
reports have been published as abstracts.
The primary report of the research, “Effects
of Stress Management on PNI-based Outcomes
in Persons with HIV Disease,” is
in final review.
On Aug. 1, 2000, an expanded interdisciplinary
team was awarded an R01 grant from the National
Center for Complementary and Alternative
Medicine, NIH. As Principal Investigator
of this five-year award for $2,762,000,
Dr. McCain is directing this research program
designed to test “Alternative Stress
Management Approaches in HIV Disease.”
As her research program has developed
at VCU, she has actively involved others
in
these endeavors. Multidisciplinary NIH
grants have included co-investigators and
collaborators from the School of Nursing
and School of Medicine faculties, including
nursing colleagues with foci in immunology
and psychosocial-spiritual interventions,
physicians, and biomedical scientists.
Students
at the master's and doctoral levels continue
to be directly involved in the implementation
of her research program.
Dr. McCain has demonstrated a sustained
record of dissemination of research findings
through presentations at national and international
conferences and publications that are focused
in the area of research. Her work has appeared
in nursing research journals, including
Nursing Research, Annual Review of Nursing
Research, Western Journal of Nursing Research,
and Journal of Advanced Nursing. Her contributions
to nursing research development and practice
applications have been characterized as
“exemplary” and “prototypical.”
Several publications have contributed to
the synthesis of theory, research, and practice,
and have helped to define the parameters
of nursing science grounded in the framework
of PNI. She has provided the groundwork
for integrating quantitative and qualitative
approaches in the service of a holistic
perspective of living with HIV disease. |
