New Director of the Florence S. Downs PhD Program in Nursing Research & Theory Development

Dean Angela Frederick Amar at the New York University (NYU) Rory Meyers College of Nursing, has appointed Dena Schulman-Green as the new Director of the Florence S. Downs PhD Program in Nursing Research & Theory Development at NYU Meyers. 

As the director, Prof. Schulman-Green will be responsible for promoting the growth and enhancing the quality and reputation of the PhD in Nursing program, ensuring that it achieves the highest educational standards and represents the College at national meetings centered on research doctoral education. She will report to Bei Wu, Vice Dean, Research and Sean Clarke, Executive Vice Dean.  

Prof. Schulman-Green’s research focuses on the integration of palliative care into patient and family management of serious, chronic illness. She designed Managing Cancer Care as an intervention to help women with breast cancer and their family caregivers manage cancer collaboratively with clinicians. She is well known for her role in developing the Middle Range Theory of Self- and Family Management of Chronic Illness to guide research on patient and family management of chronic illness. Schulman-Green’s work is rooted in her belief that healthcare goals should reflect personal goals and values.

Her work has been funded by the American Cancer Society, the National Institutes of Health, the National Palliative Care Research Center, and the Palliative Care Research Cooperative, among others. In March, she was inducted as a fellow of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM). Committed to mentorship, Schulman-Green supervises PhD and postdoctoral research trainees, and was re-elected last month as a member of the AAHPM leadership development committee. Since coming to Meyers, Prof. Schulman-Green has been deeply involved in the PhD program in a variety of ways.

Schulman-Green received a PhD and an MS in gerontology from the University of Massachusetts Boston, an MA and EdM in counseling psychology from Columbia University, and a BA in psychology and religion from Boston University. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in breast cancer and palliative care at the Yale School of Nursing under the mentorship of Dr. Ruth McCorkle and Dr. Elizabeth Bradley.