Dominique Tobbell, PhD

University of Virginia, School of Nursing

Dr. Dominique Tobbell, PhD, is a historian of nursing and health care whose research examines the complex political, economic, and social relationships that developed among academic institutions, governments, and the health care industry in the decades after World War II and assesses the implications of those relationships for the current health care system.  She is the author of three books, including, most recently, Dr. Nurse: Science, Politics, and the Transformation of American Nursing (University of Chicago Press, 2022). Dr. Tobbell earned an undergraduate degree in biochemistry from the University of Manchester, and both a MA and PhD in the history and sociology of science from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Tobbell is a Centennial Distinguished Professor and Director, Eleanor Crowder Bjoring Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry, University of Virginia School of Nursing 

Title: The Making of Nursing Science in the Midwest: How the Past Shapes the Present

Overall Abstract/Keynote Description
In the decades after World War II, American nurses constructed a science of nursing that would provide the basis of nursing practice. Facing broad changes in patient care driven by the introduction of new medical innovations, academic nurses worked both to develop science-based nursing practice and to secure their roles within the post-war research university. By their efforts, academic nurses transformed nursing’s labor into a valuable site of knowledge production and demonstrated how application of this knowledge was integral to improving patient outcomes and healthcare delivery. The Midwest region played an important role in this history as a key site of knowledge development, clinical nursing research, and educational innovation. This lecture explores the knowledge claims, strategies, and politics involved as academic nurses negotiated their roles and nursing’s future and considers the implications of this history for nursing science today.

Learning Objectives

• Identify the key factors that led to the development of nursing science in the 1960s and 1970s
• Discuss how race and gender shaped the development of nursing science
• Describe the implications of this history for nursing science today

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Closing Keynote Panel - 50 Years Forward: Reflections from Nurse Leaders to Shape Nursing Science

Kathleen Buckwalter, PhD, RN, FAAN

University of Iowa, College of Nursing

Dr. Buckwalter is recognized for her research in geropsychiatric nursing, caregiving and long-term care. She has a sustained record of private and federal support related to the evaluation of nursing interventions for geropsychiatric populations from NIMH, NINR, NIA and AOA. Her particular interest is in behavioral management strategies for dementia caregivers and the effectiveness of community programs to prevent, minimize, and treat psychiatric problems in the rural elderly.

She is a member of the National Academy of Medicine (formerly IOM) and founding editor of Research in Gerontological Nursing and former editor of the Journal of Gerontological Nursing, as well as past president of both the MNRS Board of Directors and Foundation Board.

The recipient of numerous honors and awards, Dr. Buckwalter serves on many review committees, editorial boards, and advisory groups.  She has authored over 410 articles, 90 book chapters, 10 health policy and commissioned papers, 50 monographs/videos/media, over 100 editorials/reviews/commentaries, and has edited 8 books.

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Richard Fehring, PhD, RN, FAAN

Marquette University

Dr. Fehring is a Professor Emeritus at Marquette University College of Nursing, a research scientist at the Institute for Natural Family Planning, a developer of the Marquette Method of NFP, a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, and a former Captain in the US Army Nurse Corp. He received his master’s and doctorate in nursing from The Catholic University of America and baccalaureate degrees in biology and nursing from Marquette University. He has published over 210 articles and book chapters, and co-edited three books on Human Fertility. His most recent book is “Learning to Live with Your Fertility”. (Summer, 2023)

Professor Fehring taught all levels of nursing research courses for over forty years and held the research director position at Marquette for several years. His research interests include effectiveness of family planning methods, religious and spiritual influences on human sexuality, and hormonal monitoring of the menstrual cycle. He generated over 10.5 million dollars in external grant funding and is listed as one of the top 2% of worldwide scientists for citations. He has been a member of MNRS since 1981.

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Sally Lusk, PhD, RN, FAAN, FAAOHN

University of Michigan

Dr. Lusk's research speaks for itself. Her innovative behavioral approach to increasing workers' protective behavior served as the basis for the internal program of research at the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety. She conducted the country's - and potentially the world's - first large-scale, randomized clinical trials of interventions to promote the use of hearing protection. During her career, she received more than $6.5 million in total funding from federal and foundation sources to support research and training project. Further, she has been appointed to federal review groups, coordinating committees, task forces, and served as an AAN Senior Scholar at AHRQ. Publishing nine book chapters and over seventy articles in refereed journals, she was a natural mentor to her younger colleagues, facilitating a number of them in obtaining their own research funding.

Over her long career, Dr. Lusk taught courses and advised students in all program levels and guided numerous master's degree theses and projects, and doctoral degree students through program planning to dissertation. In addition to working directly with students, Dr. Lusk also developed and administered several innovative educational programs such as the off-campus BSN completion programs in Flint, Kalamazoo, and Traverse City; the Occupational Health Nursing (OHN) MS degree program; the OHN specialization in the U-M School of Nursing's PhD program; and the offering of the OHN MS program in an On-Job/On Campus format through collaboration with the School of Public Health and the College of Engineering. Dr. Lusk has also been active in the larger national and international nursing community through guiding faculty in research design and implementation as well as presenting keynotes, papers, and posters at numerous nursing and multidisciplinary conferences.

She was the recipient of over 18 honorary awards, including three MNRS Awards, Distinguished Researcher, President’s Award, and Lifetime Achievement Award.

Following retirement Dr. Lusk served as the president of MNRS and after her term led the development of the MNRS Foundation, to which she continues to contribute. Currently, she is devoting her time to increasing health professionals’ and the public’s awareness of the myriad of deleterious effects of environmental noise on health, as well as its contribution to health disparities and environmental justice.

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