Leadership
Barbara J. Guthrie, RN, PhD, FAAN (Principal Investigator, Admin Core Lead) oversees all aspects of the Center and serves as Director of the Administrative Core within NUCare. Dr. Guthrie is a Professor of Nursing and Director of the Doctor of Nursing Program in the Bouvé College of Health Sciences at Northeastern University. She is responsible for leading the overall strategy, communicating with the executive committee, meeting with the advisory boards and providing overall leadership for the NUCare Center. She will ensure that the vision for the center is met and that appropriate resources are available to address the specific aims of the Center.
Holly Jimison, PhD, FACMI (Co-Principal Investigator) oversees the day-to-day management of the Center. Dr. Jimison has extensive research experience in using technology approaches to deliver health coaching interventions to older adults in the home. She is a Professor in both the School of Nursing and the College of Computer & Information Science and also directs the Consortium on Technology for Proactive Care. Dr. Jimison coordinates and manages the Administrative Core activities, ranging from running the Executive Committee weekly meetings, providing nurse training in key research areas, managing the selection of pilot projects, ensuring that the pilot projects are meeting milestones and being supported in a timely and appropriate way, managing the financial aspects of the Center, and managing the outreach and dissemination of research results.
Misha Pavel, PhD (Tech Core Lead) oversees the management of the Technology & Analysis Core. Dr. Pavel is a Professor in the College of Health Sciences and the College of Computer & Information Science. He also co-directs the Consortium on Technology for Proactive Care at Northeastern University. Dr. Pavel previously served on the Executive Board of the Oregon Center on Aging & Technology and was recently the Program Director of Smart and Connected Health at the National Science Foundation. He has extensive research experience with the analysis and modeling of home sensor data for older adults. Dr. Pavel supports nurse scientists in their pilot project activities related to technology for self management with older adults.
Carmen C. Sceppa, MD, PhD (Pilot Core Lead) oversees the management of the Pilot Projects Core, including the recruitment, selection, and implementation of the pilot projects supported by the Center. She ensures that the quality of the proposed work meets our high standards, project timelines are met, the research adheres to human subjects requirements, and the dissemination of the results occur in a timely manner. Dr. Sceppa also serves as the leader of Northeastern University’s Elder Care Community Advisory Board. She works with the management of the Administrative Core to incorporate the Center’s agenda into ongoing Advisory Board meetings and guides the overall development of community collaborations through her leadership. Dr. Sceppa is an Associate Professor of Health Sciences and Director of the Graduate Program in Exercise Science at the Bouvé College of Health Sciences at Northeastern University. Dr. Sceppa has a long history of providing successful exercise, nutrition and wellness interventions with Latino and other urban communities.
Pilot Faculty
Elizabeth Howard, PhD, MSN, NP (Pilot Project 2 PI, Pilot Project 6 Co-PI) is an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing at Northeastern University. Her research is in the area of comprehensive assessments for older adults and in interventions for healthy aging. She is currently implementing her pilot in which she is testing the effect of “Vitality 360,” a personal coaching intervention, on healthy behavior changes in a frail population of seniors living in two urban, subsidized housing facilities. Read more about her project here.
Brenda Douglas, PhD, MS, RN (Pilot Project 4 PI) is an Associate Clinical Professor in the School of Nursing at Northeastern University. Her research is in the area of self-management in older adults and the use of simulation in nursing education. In August 2016, she began work on her pilot “Self-Management of Hypertension Lifestyle Behaviors Using a Smartphone EMA/I App with Older Adult Black Women.” Read more about her project here.
Hermine Poghosyan, PhD (Pilot Project 5 PI) is an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing at Northeastern University. Her research is in the area of tobacco control policy and cancer health disparities. In August 2016, she began work on her pilot “Electronic and Tobacco Cigarettes Use Among Individuals At High Risk for Lung Cancer.” Read more about her project here.
Patricia Dykes, RN, PhD, MA (Pilot Project 6 PI) is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a Senior Nurse Scientist and Director of Nursing Research in the Center for Nursing Excellence at The Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Former Faculty
Terry Fulmer, Ph.D, RN, FAAN is the current President of the John A. Hartford Foundation. Prior to this, she was the Distinguished Professor & Dean of the Bouvé College of Health Sciences at Northeastern University and the Principal Investigator for NUCare.
Alice Bonner, PhD, RN (Pilot Project 1 PI) is an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing at Northeastern University. Dr. Bonner is a gerontological nurse practitioner with research experience in nursing home care and dementia care. She is interested in interventions that include self management when patients are discharged from nursing homes. She would also like to be able to use technology to amplify the scalability and effectiveness of her protocols for care. She is currently on leave from Northeastern University to serve as Secretary of Elder Affairs for Massachusetts under Governor Charlie Baker.
Maria Dolce, PhD, RN, CNE, FACHE (PI Pilot Project 3) was an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing at Northeastern University and leads interprofessional research, education, and practice initiatives at Bouvé College of Health Sciences. Her research is in the area of oral-systemic health. She recently accepted the position of Research Professor at Stony Brook University in New York.
Rachel Jones, PhD, MS, BSN, FAAN (Co-investigator, Pilot Core) is an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing at Northeastern University, with an extensive research background in using mobile phone technology in interventions to reduce HIV risk among urban women. Dr. Jones serves as a research advisor on nursing science to the junior nursing faculty applying for pilot project grants. She mentors the applicants at key points during the course of the pilot projects.
Stephen Intille, PhD (Co-investigator, Technology & Analysis core) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at Northeastern University and the College of Computer & Information Science. Dr. Intille’s research is in the area of mobile phone technology for activity assessment and health behavior interventions. He serves as an advisor nurse scientists on the use on mobile technology and sensors in their pilot projects.
Mariya Shiyko, PhD (Co-Investigator, Technology & Analysis core) provides guidance on the development of analysis plans for pilot projects. Dr. Shiyko is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Counseling and Applied Educational Psychology at the Bouvé College. She has worked extensively with intensive longitudinal data (ILD) design and analysis and is interested in statistical models that allow for a full exploration of ILD and the application of these in studies of health-related behaviors, such as smoking, medication adherence, and physical activity.