Senior Investigator
Research Award 2002-03
Dr. Cindy Munro,
Ph.D., Professor, Adult Health
Dr. Munro obtained her Ph.D. in 1992 from
VCU in the Clinical Science Program offered
cooperatively by the School of Nursing and
the Department of  Microbiology
and Immunology in the School of Basic Health
Sciences. She obtained a predoctoral fellowship
from the National Institutes of Health’s
National Center for Nursing Research to
support her doctoral studies. Her dissertation
topic foreshadowed her program of research
in the area of oral health and immunity.
It was entitled “Sucrose-derived exopolysaccharides
of Streptococcus mutans are virulence factors
in dental caries and endocarditis.”
Munro joined the faculty of the VCU School
of Nursing as an assistant professor with
tenure in 1998. She also has maintained
an affiliate associate professor appointment
in the VCU School of Medicine’s Department
of Microbiology and Immunology.
Since joining the faculty, Dr. Munro has
been the Principle Investigator on one major
federally funded grant and was the PI on
one project funded by A.D. Williams, which
provided pilot data for the subsequently
funded RO1. She has served as a coinvestigator
on a total of seven other projects, which
generated a total of $897,742 in direct
costs. Three of these projects were funded
by NIH. She has demonstrated her effectiveness
in establishing effective multidisciplinary
teams; these teams work well over time and
have sustained research outcomes. As a consequence
of her collaborations with the faculty in
the Department of Microbiology and Immunology,
she obtained an international patent, “Vaccine
to Prevent Streptococcal Endocarditis”
along with other inventors, Frank Macrina,
Helen Viscount and D. Burnette Curley.
Dr. Munro has been effective in disseminating
the findings of her work. Since 1988, she
has published 33 refereed articles; she
served as first author on nine of those.
Her refereed publications are in prestigious
journals such as the American Journal of
Critical Care, Critical Care Medicine, Infection
and Immunity and Methods in Cell Science.
She authored three book chapters and in
conjunction with her various research teams,
has had 17 published abstracts, 21 international
or national presentations, 17 regional presentations
and numerous local presentations. She has
one of the best publication records in the
School of Nursing.
She has worked effectively to mentor novice
researchers. Dr. Munro has served as an
FSP and thesis adviser to numerous master’s
students, has supervised the research of
three doctoral students, and has provided
dissertation guidance to nine doctoral students.
Students have expressed the highest regard
for their collaborations with Dr. Munro
and many have cited her as their role model
for becoming an outstanding nurse researcher.
Dr. Munro’s achievements have been
noted by the president of VCU, Dr. Eugene
Trani, who invited Dr. Munro to join his
Council of Advisers in 2001. That same year,
she also was appointed to the Life Sciences
Advisory Committee. She served as a member
of the VCU Committee on the Conduct of Human
Research for 1993-99 and since 2000, has
served on the VCU IRB Panel A. She served
on the Massey Cancer Center Clinical Trials
Review Committee for six years. Outside
VCU, she has served on the Access Advisory
Committee to the Mid-Atlantic Twins Registry
and from 1995-99, on the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services’ proposal
review committee for the Award for Innovations
in Health Promotion/Disease Prevention.
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