At Emory, innovative research strengthens nursing practice and scientific discovery. The constant goal is better patient care. Collaborating with physicians, architects, and engineers, for instance, School of Nursing professors work to improve the design of hospital rooms. The Center for Research on Symptoms, Symptom Interactions, and Health Outcomes, one of nine nursing research centers funded by the National Institutes of Health, focuses on improving results for patients in every specialty.
As a second-year nursing student at State University of New York in Plattsburgh, Susan Bauer-Wu learned that her mother had breast cancer. As she helped her mother deal with the emotional and physical stress of the disease, Bauer-Wu’s studies took on an intense personal focus, and she decided to become an oncology nurse. Since then, she has dedicated her career to helping cancer patients thrive. Now a Georgia Cancer Coalition distinguished scholar with a doctorate in nursing, Bauer-Wu researches the effects of meditation and other stress-relieving activities on cancer symptoms.
Funded by the NIH and Emory’s Woodruff Health Sciences Fund, her largest trial measures changes in subjective symptoms as well as laboratory findings such as stress hormone levels and white blood cell counts. This study also uses functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine changes in brain activity. Before joining Emory’s nursing faculty in 2007, Bauer-Wu directed the Center for Research in Nursing and Patient Care Services at Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and taught medicine at Harvard. Passionate about helping cancer survivors and health care professionals thrive, she is committed to inspiring nurses to increase their resilience and minimize burnout.
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