RN Work Project

Research team at New York University

From left to right: Jason Nembhard, Maja Djukic, Carina Katigbak, Farida Fatehi, Nell Selander

Maja Djukic, PhD, RN

is an assistant professor at the NYU College of Nursing, where she was a Mary Clark Rockefeller Doctoral Fellow. Her research interests include examining relationships among social and physical aspects of nurse work environments, nurse work outcomes, and quality and safety of patient care delivery. Additionally, she is interested in interprofessional education and implementation of evidence-based strategies for improving the nurse work environment. As a co-investigator on the RNWork Project, Dr. Djukic is responsible for supervising project staff and for disseminating research findings through publication of manuscripts and presenting at conferences.

Jason Nembhard

is the Project Manager for RN WorkProject. His research interests are in behavior modification and learning in adults. His responsibilities for RN WorkProject include maintaining the timeline and progress in the project; monitoring the operational effectiveness of the infrastructure in terms of meeting project goals; maintaining an organizational structure and staffing to effectively accomplish the project goals; recruiting and training of project staff in our computer systems and standard operating procedures; and maintaining RN WorkProject’s compliance with NYU’s Institutional Review Board and writing annual grant reports for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Farida Fatehi

is a research analyst at the NYU College of Dentistry and Nursing. She is also a foreign trained dentist and recently Masters Student of Biomaterials at NYU College of Dentistry. She has 4 years of experience working with all aspects of data management process, including programming for data analysis, reporting, and ensuring compliance with various government regulations. She is experienced in survey data production, weighting, imputation, response rate calculation, variable construction, data file management, technical documentation and quality control. She has a sound knowledge of biostatistics which allows her to effectively work with researchers from various fields and to understand their data management needs. Her responsibility in the RN work project includes data maintenance,documentation, analysis of data according to paper need and reporting.

Philip Johnson

is an MA (International Education) student at NYU Steinhardt. His research interests are in the history and politics of international education, as well as in the intersections of education and justice. His most recent work is on nationalist education in Mexico. He is responsible for assisting with research related activities for the RNWork Project.

Research team at University at Buffalo

 Ying-Yu Chao

is a PhD candidate at School of Nursing, University at Buffalo. Her research interest is in physical activity and function in older adults. For her doctoral dissertation study, she is focused on motivating older adults to engage in exercise. She has designed and is testing a self-efficacy theoretically based intervention by using interactive video games to promote assisted living residents to engage in exercise. Her responsibilities in the RN Work Project include assisting with literature searches, literature review and synthesis, maintaining the project reference library, survey development, manuscript preparation and formatting, and maintaining the project website.

 Leonie Smith

is a BSN student at University at Buffalo School of Nursing.  She is a Certified Health Education Specialist and holds a Master’s in Public Heath with emphasis in Community Health Education and a PhD in Health Education and Promotion with emphasis in Human Sexuality and HIV/AIDS.  Ms. Smith’s research interests are varied but the bulk of her research has been in human sexuality, HIV/AIDS and STI prevention among abused impoverished urban women.  Her dissertation research focused on sexual risk behaviors among abused low income urban African American women with co-morbid substance use and psychiatric health conditions. Her responsibilities on the RN work project include assisting with literature searches and literature review and synthesis.