Karen Kavanaugh, RN, PhD, FAAN, has been named Elizabeth Schotanus Professor of Pediatric Nursing at the Wayne State University College of Nursing.

The endowed professorship allows a recognized pediatric nurse-scientist the opportunity to provide leadership in research-based pediatric clinical practice, direct pediatric research investigations and teach pediatric nursing. The endowment was established in 2000 in partnership with DMC Children’s Hospital of Michigan through a gift from the estate of Elizabeth and Peter Schotanus.

“I am honored to be selected and am so grateful to the Schotanus family for recognizing the importance of close collaboration between nurses in clinical practice and those prepared as nurse researchers so both groups can work together to improve care to children and families,” Kavanaugh says.

Kavanaugh’s research areas include palliative and end-of-life care for newborns and families, pediatric bereavement, and stress and preterm birth in African American women. She has received funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for several projects, including a $1.7 million grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research of NIH for “Life Support Decisions for Extremely Premature Infants.” In the study, she investigated parents’ decision-making processes when faced with the possible need to resuscitate a premature infant at birth and potentially provide life support afterward. Her goals are to improve care for parents and children when faced with potentially devastating problems and to help health care providers, especially nurses, plan for care that honors and respects families’ values and preferences.

Kavanaugh joined the Wayne State University College of Nursing in 2012. She has been a faculty scholar at the Program in Palliative Care and Education sponsored by Harvard Medical School and a board member for the Alliance of Perinatal Bereavement Facilitators. Kavanaugh was inducted as a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing in 2005 and in 2006 received the March of Dimes Annual Jonas Salk Leadership Award in Nursing.

Kavanaugh resides in Detroit, Mich., and Oak Park, Ill.

Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution of higher education offering 370 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 29,000 students. For more information about the College of Nursing, visit nursing.wayne.edu.

About DMC Children’s Hospital of Michigan: For 125 years the DMC Children’s Hospital of Michigan is the first and most experienced hospital in the state dedicated exclusively to the treatment of children. A leader internationally in neurology and neurosurgery, cardiology, oncology, and diagnostic services, it is ranked one of America’s best hospitals for children. More Michigan pediatricians are trained at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan than in any other facility. Children’s Hospital of Michigan is one of eight hospitals operated by the Detroit Medical Center (DMC). The DMC is proud to be the Official Healthcare Services Provider of the Detroit Tigers, Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Pistons.