FACULTY

Carmen Giurgescu, the Chatlos Foundation Endowed Chair and associate dean of research, is a pioneer and leader in eliminating racial disparities in preterm birth among Black women. She has strategically developed a focused program of nationally recognized research to identify fundamental factors that underlie high rates of preterm birth among Black women. Her pioneering research, which is built upon more than 15 years of clinical practice as a labor and delivery nurse and women’s health care nurse practitioner, has progressed from drawing attention to the roles of social stressors, particularly neighborhood disorder, and experiences of racial discrimination, to elucidating the complex and interacting psychological and biological pathways by which social determinants of health increase risk for preterm birth. Giurgescu’s work, which has been consistently funded and currently includes two studies totaling $5.6 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health, has implications for interventions ranging from policies to personalized therapies.

Education

• Postdoctoral Fellow, Irving Harris Faculty-Scholar Initiative, Department of Maternal-Child Nursing, University of Illinois at Chicago
• PhD, Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing, Loyola University of Chicago
• MSN, Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing, Loyola University of Chicago
• BSN, Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing, Loyola University of Chicago

Selected Editorial Activities

• Guest Editor, Western Journal of Nursing Research, special issue on “Childbearing among African American Women”
• Guest Editor, MCN: The American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing, special issue on “Fathers Matter: Fathers Contributions to Birth Outcomes in Black Families”
• Guest Editor, MCN: The American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing, special issue on “Social Determinants of Maternal Mental Health and Birth Outcomes”
• Editorial Board, MCN: The American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing
• Editorial Board, Journal of Perinatal and Neonatal Nursing

Selected Awards & Honors

• International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame, Sigma, 2023
• Senior Investigator Award, Women’s Health and Childbearing Research Interest Group, Midwest Nursing Research Society, 2020

Selected Professional Activities

• Co-chair, Research Grant Committee, Midwest Nursing Research Society
• Co-chair, Women’s Health and Childbearing Research Interest Group, Midwest Nursing Research Society
• Healthcare and Health Disparities Study Section, National Institutes for Health Center for Scientific Review