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Eileen Lake and Salimah Meghani Named to International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame

Cited for Their Work’s Significant Impact on Nursing and Patient Care

April 9, 2024

By:

Hoag Levins

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University of Pennsylvania Nursing School Professors and LDI Senior Fellows Eileen Lake and Salimah Meghani have been named to the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame. They will be inducted at the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing’s 35th International Nursing Research Congress in Singapore in July.

The annual Sigma Theta Tau Hall of Fame appointments honor researchers whose work has achieved significant and sustained broad recognition for its impact on the nursing profession and on the population of patients it serves. Established a century ago, the invitation-only honor society is the world’s second largest nursing organization with 135,000 members and 530 chapters worldwide.

Deserving Achievements

“Dr. Lake’s scholarship in improving nurse work environments means a better work climate for all of us, and Dr. Meghani’s long-standing commitment to advancing the field of palliative care has been impactful not only to nurses but to patients and families,” said Penn Nursing Dean and LDI Senior Fellow Antonia M. Villarruel, PhD, RN. “Their induction into the Hall of Fame highlights the importance of their work for nursing, health care, and patients and families. They are truly deserving of this honor as nurses, researchers, and leaders.”

Lake, PhD, RN, is a Professor of both Nursing and Gerontology and is the Associate Director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research. Over three decades, her research has focused on linking nursing system factors such as staffing and the work environment to outcomes of very low birth weight infant outcomes in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Her investigations have revealed poorer patient outcomes, worse nursing resources, and poorer nursing care quality in NICUs that serve predominantly Black very low birth weight infants.

Meghani, PhD, MBE, RN, is a Professor of Nursing and Palliative Care, and is the Associate Director of the NewCourtland Center for Transitions and Health. Her research focuses on the intersections of health disparities, decision science, and pain and symptom outcomes among seriously ill patients. Her investigations have been aimed at enhancing pain and symptom management for individuals with cancer, particularly in the context of the opioid crisis—a landscape compounded by the intersections of federal policies, state restrictions, and clinical practice guidelines governing opioid access and use.