DNP/PhD candidate Lisa Grisham awarded March of Dimes graduate nursing scholarship
Lisa Grisham, MSN, NNP, a University of Arizona College of Nursing DNP/PhD candidate, received the Margaret Comerford Freda March of Dimes Graduate Nursing Scholarship Award.
“Being selected as the recipient of the 2024 Margaret Comerford Freda March of Dimes Graduate Nursing Scholarship is exciting and humbling, and the honor is almost indescribable,” Grisham said. “I know there were many well-qualified applicants who deserved this award. I am thankful that my work stood out and I was lucky enough to be selected. I look forward to making the March of Dimes proud with the work that I do for mothers and babies.”
The March of Dimes website says the award and $10,000 scholarship recognize and promote excellence in nursing and further the organization's commitment to closing the health equity gap and ensuring all moms and babies receive the highest quality medical care.
“We are extremely proud and excited for Lisa to receive this award,” said Brian Ahn, PhD, dean of the College of Nursing. “The college, just like the March of Dimes, is committed to ensuring that the health equity gap closes, and this award signifies the quality of the work our students undertake.”
Grisham said the scholarship will support the completion of her dissertation research, which is a feasibility trial examining the effect of babywearing (carrying your baby with a wrap or device leaving your hands and arms free) on infants who experience withdrawal after birth due to in-utero exposure to opioids.
“These babies require a lot of attention and resources in the hospital. Being able to understand the calming and comforting mechanisms behind babywearing is the first step to aiding clinician-scientists in developing additional effective nonpharmacologic interventions,” Grisham said.
“Lisa’s expertise working with infants with NAS/NOWS and their mothers with substance use disorders is rare and revolutionary,” said her advisor, Sheila M. Gephart, PhD, RN, FAAN, professor and interim chair of the Advanced Nursing Practice and Science Division at the College of Nursing. “The important next step in her career is to hone her ability to conduct rigorous and meaningful research to generate new knowledge that ultimately will lessen morbidity and enhance lives. Lisa’s proposed biobehavioral research is generation-shifting work. She is poised to be a next-generation leader in neonatology and nursing science.”
Grisham has worked at Banner – University Medical Center Tucson for 24 years – the first five years as a nurse and then 19 years as a nurse practitioner. She and her team have created a family-centered neonatal abstinence care program designed to improve care for infants experiencing withdrawal from in-utero opioid exposure and their families with opioid use disorder.