Nursing welcomes new endowed chair for mental well being | MSUToday

A researcher with an established track record of locating revolutionary and productive strategies to market behaviors connected with behavioral and mental well being wellbeing and vaccination concerns in underserved youth populations is coming to the Michigan State University College of Nursing.

Angela Chia-Chen Chen will begin on June 15 as the inaugural McLaren Higher Lansing Endowed Chair for Behavioral Mental Overall health Nursing Education. In her function, Chen will lead the college’s efforts in partnership with McLaren Higher Lansing to create strategic educational initiatives and novel practice models to enhance inclusive and equitable behavioral mental well being and wellbeing of our neighborhood.

“I am humbled and excited to serve as the McLaren Higher Lansing Endowed Chair for Behavioral Mental Overall health Nursing Education,” mentioned Chen. “This special position will supply an unparalleled platform to market behavioral and mental well being awareness, decrease stigma, and enhance the general effectively-getting of folks and communities. By way of collective efforts, we can make a profound distinction with each other.”

Chen comes to MSU from Arizona State University, exactly where she has been given that 2005 and most lately served as faculty and as a psychiatric mental well being nurse practitioner at Crisis Preparation and Recovery in Tempe, Arizona.

A lot of Chen’s operate is focused on enhancing mental and behavioral well being amongst vulnerable youth via technologies-centered prevention applications. For instance, she has worked to use revolutionary, theory-primarily based interventions such as video games to enhance understanding  and communicating about the human papillomavirus vaccine to decrease hesitancy amongst youth and their parents via joined choice -generating, and, as a result, to market vaccination as a cancer prevention method. In addition, she carried out investigation in Louisiana for the duration of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to assess mental well being concerns amongst Black and Vietnamese populations in New Orleans. Chen has also focused on perceived discrimination amongst minority nursing employees and Asian-Americans for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and their levels of pressure and wellbeing. The overarching concentrate of her operate has been creatively addressing the promotion of well being and wellbeing, which she will bring to nursing care offered at McLaren and infuse into all the nursing applications of the college.

As aspect of her move to MSU, Chen will work on two grants, such as a single that is a NIH-funded study focused on game-primarily based intervention to market HPV vaccination in households with unvaccinated kids.

“We quite a lot appear forward to welcoming Dr. Chen to MSU,” mentioned Leigh Smaller, dean of the College of Nursing. “She will be instrumental in our method to position the college as an emerging national leader in wellbeing. In addition, her operate will be crucial in meeting the university’s sustainable well being objectives by advertising wellness, strengthening our capability to create resilient qualified nurses, and advertising wellbeing amongst nurses at a single of our important clinical partners.”

Chen earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan and gained a Master of Science in Psychosocial and Neighborhood Overall health Nursing from the University of Washington. She also received a post-master’s certification in psychiatric mental well being nursing and went on to comprehensive her investigation Ph.D. from the University of Washington. For the reason that of her groundbreaking investigation and excellence as a psychiatric mental well being nurse practitioner, Chen is getting inducted this summer season as a fellow in the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners.

Along with numerous other college initiatives, obtaining Chen join the MSU Spartan nursing faculty group marks a strategic advancement aimed at enhancing wellbeing. For instance, the college has incorporated some wellness and mindfulness activities across the curriculum, made a formal Wellness Committee and proposed a university-wide sustainable well being initiative focused on enhancing wellbeing amongst students, employees and faculty.

This story initially ran on the College of Nursing web page.