College of Nursing professor, associate dean earns high honor

Sousa

Karen H. Sousa, R.N., Ph.D., professor and associate dean for research and extramural affairs at the University of Colorado College of Nursing, recently was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing as a 2009 fellow, one of nursing's highest honors.

Sousa was nominated for the honor by two current academy fellows and was selected by a 15-member committee for outstanding achievements in nursing.

She was recognized for contributions exploring health-related quality of life using methodology to analyze nursing-patient relationships. Her work "provides an avenue for exploring the processes of care and validating the importance of nursing (and provides a) means for verifying the impact nurses make on the lives of patients," said Patricia Moritz, dean of the College of Nursing.

As a scholar, Sousa has been supported through a number of mechanisms including the National Institutes of Health and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.