VCU School of Nursing receives $2.6 million grant for Center of Excellence

By Amy Ridolphi
VCU School of Nursing

The Virginia Commonwealth University School of Nursing has been awarded a $2.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Nursing Research -- part of the National Institutes of Health -- to develop a P30 Center of Excellence in Biobehavioral Approaches to Symptom Management.

The five-year grant will enable to school to expand its research capacity, advance biobehavioral approaches for symptom management, facilitate the work of independent researchers and establish a mature environment for interdisciplinary, clinically focused research.

“Through this grant, the VCU School of Nursing will further expand its research program and strengthen its position as a leader in biobehavioral research,” said Dean Nancy F. Langston, Ph.D., R.N. “Over the last decade, our faculty researchers have made meaningful contributions to nursing knowledge and improved health care for patients. This new grant strengthens our biobehavioral focus and supports the work of those researchers.”

The center will support the work of several beginning researchers in the implementation of their research projects. These nursing researchers will explore the symptoms and impact of fatigue in a variety of patients including women with fibromyalgia, women with breast cancer, pregnant women, women with risk for cardiometabolic illness and individuals with sickle cell disease.