Four nurse researchers representing Australia have received global recognition for their work after being inducted into the Sigma International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame this week.
The four recipients make up 32 nurse researchers representing Australia, Canada, Italy, Nigeria, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States who have achieved significant and sustained national and/or international recognition for their work were inducted into the hall of fame at the 33rd International Nursing Research Congress, held in Glasgow this week.
The Australian recipients include, Professor Lisa McKenna, Emeritus Professor Christine Duffield, Professor Jeroen Hendriks, and Professor Tracey Levett-Jones.
Professor Lisa McKenna
Professor McKenna, Dean of the School of Nursing and Midwifery at La Trobe University, said she was thrilled to receive the accolade.
Professor McKenna has worked for nearly 40 years in nursing, having begun her career at the Central Gippsland Hospital in Traralgon
“When I was training as a nurse, research wasn’t something we talked about. It was something that evolved in nursing over the last 20 years,” Professor McKenna said.
“Research wasn’t even a word in nursing back then. Hospital training was a very vocational system. And early academia for nursing was very vocational, it took a long time to develop that research knowledge base.
“So to get to this point, it’s really satisfying to think that I’ve actually been able to make such a big impact,” she said.
Professor McKenna research interests include addressing workforce entry and preparation for nurses and midwives. She has worked across Australian and the South East Asian region and since 2014, she has been the Editor-in-Chief of Collegian: The Australian Journal of Nursing Practice, Scholarship and Research.
Christine Duffield
Currently the Emeritus Professor of Nursing at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia, Professor Duffield’s research focuses on staffing numbers in the Australian context, and her frequently referenced work has had a significant influence on national and international nursing policy for more than 20 years.
Jeroen Hendriks
Professor Hendriks is the inaugural Leo J. Mahar Cardiovascular Nursing Chair, a role based in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Flinders University and the Department of Cardiology at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, a dually-focused academic and clinical role.
Professor Hendriks’s doctoral research, completed at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, honed in on the management role that nurse specialists could play in leading atrial fibrillation (AF) clinics. He also holds numerous local and global leadership positions focused on clinical care and cardiovascular nursing,
Tracy Levett-Jones
A Professor of Nursing Education and the Head of the University of Technology Sydney’s School of Nursing and Midwifery, Professor Levett-Jones’s extensive program of research spans nearly 20 years and focuses primarily on healthcare education and its impact on patient outcomes.
The impact and influence of Tracy’s research was recognised in 2021 when she was ranked as one of the world’s top 1% of scientists in the discipline of nursing according to Stanford University, and in 2019 Tracy was identified as the top researcher in health and medical sciences in the field of nursing by the Australian Research Magazine
Professor Levett-Jones was named as the nursing research in the “health and medical sciences” by the Australian Research Magazine in 2019, and Stanford University ranked her in the top 1% of global nursing scientists last year.
“I am delighted to receive this Hall of Fame award as it recognises the importance of healthcare education research and its impact on patient outcomes. This achievement is particularly meaningful as it illustrates the significance of a program of research undertaken with many colleagues over a number of years and without whom this award would not have eventuated,” she said.
This year marks the 13th presentation of the prestigious Hall of Fame honour. The inductees will join 238 previously inducted nurse researchers, all of whom have achieved significant and sustained national or international recognition and whose research has improved the profession of nursing and the people it serves.
More information on the other inductees into the International Nurse Research Hall of Fame can be found here.
