Postdoctoral research fellows
Mentoring the next generation nurse researchers
Postdoctoral fellows focus on their scholarship with the benefit of strong mentoring relationships, helping develop the next generation of exceptional nurse researchers.
Samia Abdelnabi, Ph.D., MSN, FNP-C, CNM
Mentor: Barbara Brush
Research Fellow, National Clinician Scholars Program
As a nurse scientist and nurse midwife, Dr. Abdelnabi’s research focuses on improving psychosocial well-being in Muslim women experiencing infertility. Her most recent work includes completing her dissertation on the lived experiences of second-generation Muslim American women with infertility and understanding to what extent sociocultural and religious factors impinge on the decision to seek treatment in reproductive health. Her future directions include creating and developing interventional programs using Traditional Arabic and Islamic Medicine (TAIM) to promote or enhance psychosocial well-being in Muslim American women with infertility. Dr. Abdelnabi is also interested in developing programs to promote reproductive and sexual health education in racial, ethnic, and marginalized groups.
Florence Johnson, Ph.D., RN, MSN, MHA, CDP
Mentor: Milisa Manojlovich
Research Fellow, National Clinician Scholars Program
in the Department of Systems, Populations, and Leadership. Her research is fueled by a passion for reducing stress, anxiety, and depression among Black caregivers of individuals living with dementia in community settings. Dr. Johnson's mixed-method dissertation examined the impact of community support services on the mental health of Black caregivers of people living with dementia in the community.
Sungwon Park, PhD, RN
Mentor: Janet Larson
Dr. Park is a postdoctoral fellow and assistant professor in the School of Nursing at the University of Michigan. Since the establishment of the Michigan Society of Fellows in 1970, she is the first nursing scholar to be awarded their fellowship. Dr. Park's clinical background is in occupational health nursing, and her primary research interest is to promote workers' health and enhance the working environment. Her current work at UM involves studying the physical activity and sedentary behavior of sedentary workers based on their job tasks, under the guidance of Dr. Larson.
Emily Pasman, PhD, LMSW
Mentor: Sean McCabe
Dr. Pasman, PhD, LMSW, is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with Dr. Sean Esteban McCabe at the University of Michigan School of Nursing Center for the Study of Drugs, Alcohol, Smoking and Health. She earned her PhD in Social Work from Wayne State University in May 2023. Her social work practice has centered around the development, implementation, and evaluation of peer-delivered services for people in or seeking recovery. Her current program of research aims to expand harm reduction interventions, improve peer-delivered services, and promote effective youth prevention and recovery support.
Cinzia Caparso, PhD, BSN, RN
Mentors: Sung Won Choi, Christopher Friese
Dr. Caparso is a BSN to PhD graduate from Wayne State University College of Nursing in Detroit, MI. She practiced as an adult oncology registered nurse and a simulation nurse in the undergraduate and graduate programs while obtaining her PhD in Nursing. Her dissertation work focused on understanding end-of-life concerns in advanced cancer patients with dependent children for their co-parent. During her T32 NIH/NCI postdoctoral fellowship, she is working with her mentors, Dr. Sung Won Choi and Dr. Christopher Friese, to develop a program of research that provides communication interventions that engages patients, caregivers, children, and healthcare providers to improve family functioning in families with cancer to enable resiliency so families can holistically meet their basic human needs.
Jill Randall, PhD, MSW, LICSW
Mentor: Brad Zebrack
As a researcher and clinical social worker, Dr. Randall is drawn to clinically-relevant research that addresses patients’ psychosocial needs. Specifically, she is excited to study best strategies to integrate evidence-based psychosocial assessment and interventions into routine cancer care delivery contexts.
Alison Walsh, Ph.D., MFA, MPH
Mentor: Erin Kahle
Research Fellow, Center for Sexuality and Health Disparities
Dr. Walsh’s research interests include data quality, particularly in sexual health research; disparities in access to health care providers and resources; and social network analysis, specifically, how individual and structural social features are associated with healthcare utilization, behavior change, and research participation.
D43 International Scholars
The D43 International Scholars are a part of the D43 training grant focused on addressing the rapid rise of non-communicable diseases (NCD) in Thailand and Indonesia. See the current international scholars.
Supaporn Trongsakul, Ph.D.
Mentors: Ben Hampstead (US) and Nahathai Wongpakaran (Thailand)
Dr. Trongsakul holds a PhD in Studies Allied to Medical Research, University of East Anglia (UEA), the United Kingdom. Her post-doc study plan is to promote local people or village health volunteers to provide cognitive training programs to NCD older people with MCT state in the community. She also would like to find out whether the cognitive training program from Griffith (2020) if delivered by non-medical health professionals will give similar positive results compared with those delivered by health professionals. By integrating village health volunteers closer into the health system will not only support sustainability of the cognitive training in the community but also motivate older people themselves to constantly participate in the program. This study will be one of interventions designed to support the national policy of community-based long-term care for aging population.
International Visiting Fellows
UMSN's global collaboration through the International Visiting Scholars program and the Fogarty International Training Program for Strengthening Non-Communicable Disease Research and Training Capacity, co-funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research (Grant No: 1D43TW009883-01) brings researchers from all over the world to campus.
