VUSN’s Taylor receives post-doctoral fellowship from Pfizer
Cathy Taylor, MSN, assistant professor of Nursing, and director of the Disease Management Program with the Vanderbilt-Meharry Alliance, is the recipient of this year’s post-doctoral Fellowship in Nursing Research: Innovations in Health Outcomes, from Pfizer.
Taylor’s study is titled “Improving Clinical Outcome Reliability Among Low-Income and Indigent Type-2 Diabetic Patients.” The goal of the study will be development of a dynamic model that incorporates evidence-based, diabetes care standards with human factors to improve service delivery and patient outcomes in primary care settings.
Taylor is also the principal investigator of a demonstration project, funded by the HCA Foundation, exploring the use of retinal photography to improve access to care and establish prevalence of diabetic retinopathy among inner-city patients with type-2 diabetes.
The Pfizer fellowship was developed to support outstanding nurse scholars and to help support development of health outcomes research as a discipline and resource at schools of nursing.
Taylor’s two-year post-doctoral work begins July 1. Peter Buerhaus, Ph.D., Valere Potter Professor of Nursing, will serve as Taylor’s primary mentor. Dr. Robert Dittus, Joe and Morris Werthan Professor of Investigative Medicine, will serve as secondary mentor.