Lutenbacher honored by nursing academy
Melanie Lutenbacher, Ph.D., M.S.N., associate professor of Nursing and Pediatrics, was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing, as one of its 2009 Fellows.
She was selected for her outstanding achievements in the nursing profession and was inducted with other nurse leaders during the academy's Annual Awards Ceremony and Induction Banquet in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Melanie Lutenbacher, Ph.D., M.S.N.
Lutenbacher's current research interests include community- and home-based interventions to prevent or reduce known risks associated with preterm births, at-risk parenting and rapid repeat pregnancies. She focuses on family-centered systems of care for high-risk families and maternal psychosocial predictors of abusive or at-risk parenting.
“Melanie's career is based on taking charge of difficult problems,” said Colleen Conway-Welch, Ph.D., C.N.M., dean of Vanderbilt School of Nursing.
“She asks 'why' and she asks 'what can we do about it?' As a result, many women and children in Middle Tennessee are healthier.”
Lutenbacher's current clinical trial, Tennessee Connections for Better Birth Outcomes, evaluates the impact of a system of care that includes a combined medical and biobehavioral intervention delivered via home visits on birth outcomes of pregnant women who have had a premature baby in the past.
She has worked with Nurses for Newborns, a collaborative project that examines various aspects of program implementation and outcomes related to child abuse and neglect, and the Tennessee Disability Coalition.
This is another collaborative project that assesses Tennessee families of children with unique health-care requirement to determine effective strategies that will increase their knowledge and their ability to effectively participate and advocate on behalf of their special-needs child.
She recently began a project with the South Carolina Children's Trust to examine implementing an evidence-based home visitation program, Nurse Family Partnership.