College of Nursing faculty selected as fellow of American Academy of Nursing

Angela Clark, PhD, assistant professor and executive director of undergraduate and prelicensure programs for the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing, has been chosen as one of 230 distinguished nurse leaders to join the 2020 Class of Fellows of the American Academy of Nursing (AAN). The inductees will be recognized for their significant contributions to health and health care at the academy’s annual Transforming Health, Driving Policy Conference, taking place virtually Oct. 29-31.

“I am honored to welcome this exceptional class to the American Academy of Nursing. Their work, across many fields of expertise, exemplifies the power of nursing knowledge in creating meaningful change,” says academy President Eileen Sullivan-Marx, PhD. “As a policy organization, we strive to improve health and achieve health equity through nursing leadership, innovation and science. Now, more than ever, our collaboration is critical, and I am excited to congratulate this dynamic class of fellows during the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife.”

A strong believer in “every life is worth saving,” Clark is an internationally recognized expert in raising the voice of nursing to fight the opioid epidemic. She combines the power of nursing scholarship with her expertise in leveraging technology to transform education to systematically advance nursing research, evidenced-based education, practice and policy reform. Clark researched and developed technology-based educational interventions on harm reduction, stigma and evidence-based practices for substance use disorder treatment that have been widely disseminated at a high-level of implementation and treatment fidelity, ensuring that patients, family members, providers and stakeholders receive consistent, replicable information.

Issues addressed range from training bystanders on Narcan use, to preparing nurses to respond to overdose patients outside the emergency department, to decreasing addiction risks through pain management options. In an effort to defragment care for individuals experiencing substance use disorders by increasing interprofessional communication and knowledge of addiction as a chronic disease, Clark created a multi-touch ebook used to train 700 interprofessional health care providers throughout the country on evidence-based, medication-assisted treatment. She has also received funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to focus on interprofessional workforce development and implement a holistic perspective on addiction.

The new evidence generated by Clark has informed the Board of Directors at the Center for Addiction Treatment and led to her joining the Association for Multidisciplinary Education and Research in Substance Use and Addiction, where she is now the chair of the Nursing Special Interest Group. She has also led opioid-related projects with Apple Inc. and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), examining current and best practices in opioid and substance use disorder educational initiatives in colleges of nursing.

“Since joining the college as a PhD student in 2012, Angie has trailed a successful path, generating invaluable research outcomes to combat the opioid epidemic. In addition to her impressively funded research, Angie’s innovative approaches have made her a critical contributor to so many of our college’s national and global initiatives,” says Greer Glazer, PhD, dean of the college. “I am positive her experience, knowledge and passion will be great assets to the American Academy of Nursing.”

The newest fellows represent 39 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. territory of Guam and 13 countries. Through a competitive, rigorous application process, a committee of elected fellows review hundreds of applications and select new fellows based on their contributions to advance public health. Induction into the academy is a significant milestone in a nurse leader’s career in which their accomplishments are honored by their colleagues within the profession.