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Expertise: Gerontological Nursing
Educational Background
1990 Ph.D., Brandeis University
1978 M.S., University of Lowell
Scholarly Interests
RESEARCH
Grants & Contracts
2008-2011, Principal Investigator, “Bring Diversity to Nursing: Recruitment, Retention, and Graduation of High-Quality Minority and Economically Disadvantaged Nursing Students,” with Co-Principal Investigator, Dr. Jacqueline Dowling, and Co-Investigators Drs. Lisa Abdallah, Mary Findeisen, Margaret Knight, to U.S. DHHS, HRSA Nursing Workforce Diversity RFP, funded for $894,085.
2008, Co-Principal Investigator, Nursing Simulation Collaborative, Mass. Board of Higher Education, Human Simulation Grant, in partnership with Lowell General Hospital, $48,000 for Sim-Man and technology and training, Dr. Jacqueline S. Dowling, Principal Investigator.
2007, Principal Investigator, “Bring Diversity to Nursing – Educational Opportunities for Minority Students,” with Co-Investigators, Drs. Jacqueline Dowling, Lisa Abdallah, Mary Findeisen, Margaret Knight, and Consultant, Dr. Lin Zhan, from Massachusetts Department of Public Health, RFP “Reducing Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities: Workforce Development,” funded in the amount of $183,024, November 2007 through June 2010.
2007-2008, Consultant, “Geropsychiatric Learning Modules for Professional Nurses: DVD Script Development,” Enhancing Geriatric Nursing Capacity/American Academy of Nursing grant to PI, Dr. Virginia Burggraf, Radford University, Virginia, $500.
2006, Consultant, with Dr. Lin Zhan, to Drs. Kathleen Skrabut and Sue Anderson, Principal Investigators, “Salem State College and University of Massachusetts Lowell Nursing Collaborative for Advanced Graduate Education for Nurse Educators, Massachusetts Board of Higher Education funded grant $1,012.
2006, Co-Investigator with Dr. L. Abdallah, Principal Investigator, and Co-Investigators, Drs. R. Remington, L. Zhan, and S. Houde, “Dehydration Reduction in the Community Dwelling Older Adult,” Summer Research Forum Seed Grant, UMass Lowell, Office of Research Administration, award $2,100.
2000-2006, Co-Investigator with Dr. Craig Slatin, Principal Investigator, on NIH, National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health-funded study, “Health Desparities Among Healthcare Workers,” 9/29/00-9/28/05, for total cost of $3,055,415.
Bio Sketch
Dr. Karen Devereaux Melillo is Professor and Chair, Department of Nursing, and formerly Coordinator of the Gerontological Nurse Practitioner Specialty. This specialty was named to the top tier of graduate nursing programs by "U.S. News and World Report." She earned her Ph.D. from Brandeis University in 1990, where her studies focused on aging, long-term care and health policy. She received her Master's of Science Degree in Gerontological Nursing from the University of Lowell in 1978, which prepared her as a Gerontological Nurse Practitioner; in 1998, she was awarded the Francis Cabot Lowell Outstanding Alumni Award for the College of Health Professions at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. She was also selected as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners and for the Distinguished Alumni Award from Massachusetts Bay Community College, both in 2001.
Since coming to the University in 1982, she has established an active research program on the utilization of nurse practitioners in institutional long-term care, for which she received the American College of Health Care Administrators Long-Term Care Research Award. Her research interests also include physical fitness and exercise activity of older adults, and older Latinos in particular, as well as the application of a wandering technology device for older adults with Alzheimer's disease. She is a Co-Investigator on a 5-year, $3.5M National Institutes of Health, NIOSH-funded study on "Health Disparities Among Healthcare Workers," where she leads the long-term qualitative case study team in two nursing homes. Dr. Melillo has more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and is an Editorial Review Board member for the Journal of Gerontological Nursing and a manuscript reviewer for a number of peer-reviewed national journals, including Geriatric Nursing and Clinical Excellence for Nurse Practitioners. In 2005, she, along with Dr. Susan Crocker Houde, published the book "Geropsychiatric and Mental Health Nursing."
She is active in a number of national professional associations (American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties, Gerontological Society of America) and local boards, including the Advisory Board to the Eastern Massachusetts Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association (Lowell satellite office) and the Board of Trustees for D'Youville Senior Care, Inc., Lowell, MA. She is Past President of the Eta Omega Chapter, Sigma Theta Tau International, the Honor Society of Nursing.
Curriculum Vitae .pdf format