Carolina Nursing faculty named American Academy of Nursing Fellows

The American Academy of Nursing announced its selection of 253 highly distinguished nurse leaders for its 2023 class of Academy Fellows, four of whom are UNC School of Nursing faculty. We are delighted to congratulate Drs. Yamnia Cortés, Louise FlemingRachel Hirschey and Sheila Santacroce on this significant achievement!

Yamnia Cortés, PhD, MPH, FNP-BD, FAHA, leads an interdisciplinary program of research focused on understanding sociocultural, environmental, and biological factors that impact midlife women’s health; the interface between reproductive aging and cardiovascular disease risk; and interventions to promote cardiovascular health, particularly in Latinas. Methodologically, Dr. Cortés integrates approaches from biosocial research, epidemiology, behavioral medicine, and community engagement strategies.

Cortés is a Fellow of the American Heart Association, Research Fellow of the UNC-CH Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, and Affiliate of the UNC-CH Center for Population Aging and Health.


In addition to serving as the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs, Louise Fleming, PhD, MSN-Ed, RN, teaches in the undergraduate and graduate programs and continues her program of research examining the intersection of family life and congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). 

Fleming has worked in the hospital setting in critical care and emergency medicine, and has conducted research concerning parental management of adrenal crisis in children with CAH at both Duke University and the UNC School of Nursing. Through this research she has developed several educational tools related to adrenal crisis including a training video, a mobile health application, and numerous brochures regarding adrenal crisis prevention and management.


Rachel Hirschey, PhD, RN, has conducted research funded by the Oncology Nursing Foundation, the National Institute for Nursing Research and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. Her work is focused on using multi-level approaches to decrease cancer health disparities between Black and White patients, and her research and service activities are guided by a community advisory board.

Hirschey serves on the Oncology Nursing Society Triangle Chapter Board as co-chair of leadership and mentorship. She is passionate about working with oncology nurses and students to develop and implement evidence-based research for sustained practice changes that will improve cancer outcomes and health equity across populations.


Sheila Santacroce research focuses on improving medical and quality of life outcomes for children, adolescents and young adults with serious chronic illness (cancer, HIV disease, stage 3-5 kidney disease) and their family members (parents, siblings). Her research interests include illness uncertainty, medical traumatic stress and post-traumatic growth, the psycho-neuro immunologic (PNI) symptom cluster, cancer survivorship, and cardiovascular outcomes of the cancer experience. Her methodological interests include designing and implementing intervention research, intervention fidelity, bio-behavioral methods and mixed methods. Her clinical background is in pediatric hematology-oncology (acute; long-term follow-up/late effects) and pediatric HIV/AIDS nursing.

Dr. Santacroce is PI/Director of the T32: Interventions for Preventing and Managing Chronic Illness, a pre- and postdoctoral research training program funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research (T32NR007091). She is a member of Carolina’s Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center [Cancer Prevention & Control Program] and serves on the Survivorship Advisory Board. She also serves on the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation Nursing Advisory Board, and is a founder of the Children’s Inn at NIH and the HEROS clinic for childhood cancer survivors at Yale University.


Carolina Nursing alumni selected as Fellows this year include:

In the AAN press release, Kenneth R. White, PhD, RN, AGACNP, ACHPN, FACHE, FAAN, commended the remarkable impact these nursing leaders have on public health. “As the American Academy of Nursing’s President, it gives me great pride to welcome these incredible leaders into our organization during our 50th anniversary year. Reflecting on the Academy’s history, we began with 36 Charter Fellows in 1973 who saw the need for an organization that would recognize and elevate the impact of nursing on health care.”

“The Academy continues to convene and celebrate nurses who make extraordinary contributions to improve health through the generation, synthesis, and dissemination of nursing knowledge. This year’s group of inductees truly represents today’s thought leaders and the diversity of our profession’s policy leaders, practitioners, educators, and innovators. Each Fellow of the Academy is changing the future of health and health care through their support to advance equity, promote inclusion, and lift up the next generation of nurses, advancing the Academy’s vision of healthy lives for all people.”

ANA President Kenneth White, PhD, RN, AGACNP, ACHPN, FACHE, FAAN

Through a rigorous and competitive application process, the Academy’s Fellow Selection Committee, which is comprised of elected and appointed Fellows, reviewed nearly 400 applications, ultimately selecting the 2023 Fellows based on their contributions to advance the public’s health. Induction into the Academy is a significant milestone in which past and current accomplishments are honored by colleagues within and outside the profession.  

Yamnia, Louise, Rachel and Sheila join the following impressive list of Carolina Nursing faculty Fellows:

The inductees will be recognized for their significant contributions to health and health care at the Academy’s annual Health Policy Conference, taking place on October 27-29, 2022 in Washington, DC. This year’s conference theme is “From Reflection to Impact: Positioning Nursing’s Future.”

Carolina Nursing Fellows

G. Rumay Alexander, EdD, RN, FAAN
Ruth Anderson, PhD, RN, FAAN+
Linda Beeber, PhD, PMHCNS-BC, FAAN+**
Beth Perry Black, PhD, RN, FAAN+
Jada Brooks, PhD, MPSH, RN, FAAN
Ashley Leak Bryant, PhD, RN-BC, OCN, FAAN
Linda Cronenwett, PhD, RN, FAAN+*
Leslie Davis, PhD, ANP-BC, FAAN
Carol Durham, EdD, RN, ANEF, FAAN
Cynthia Freund, PhD, RN, FAAN+
Sandra G. Funk, PhD, RN, FAAN+
Cheryl Giscombe, PhD, PMHNP-BC, FAAN
Jean Goeppinger, PhD, RN, FAAN+
Edward Halloran, PhD, RN, FAAN+
Joanne Harrell, PhD, RN, FAAN+
Donna Havens, PhD, RN, FAAN+
Eric Hodges, PhD, FNP-BC, FAAN
Valerie Howard, EdD, MSN, RN, CNE, ANEF, FAAN
Cheryl Jones, PhD, RN, FAAN
Kathleen Knafl, PhD, FAAN+
Barbara Mark, PhD, RN, FAAN+

Deborah K. Mayer, PhD, RN, AOCN, FAAN+
Margaret Miles, PhD, RN, FAAN+*
Mary H. Palmer, PhD, RN, AGSF, FAAN+
Nena Peragallo Montano, DrPH, RN, FAAN+
Natalia Villegas Rodriguez, PhD, MSN, RN, IBCLC, FAAN
Margarete Sandelowski, PhD, RN, FAAN+
Gwen Sherwood, PhD, RN, FAAN+
Victoria Soltis-Jarrett, PHD, PMHCNS/NP-BC,
FAANP, FAAN
Lixin Song, PhD, RN, FAAN
Suzanne Thoyre, PhD, RN, FAAN
Mark Toles, PhD, RN, FAAN
Marcia Van Riper, PhD, RN, FAAN
Jessica Williams, PhD, MPH, PHNA-BC, FAAN
Margaret Wilmoth, PhD, MSS, RN, FAAN
Rose Mary Xavier, PhD, MS, RN, PMHNP-BC
SeonAe Yeo, PhD, RNC, WHNP, FAAN
Meg Zomorodi, PhD, RN, CNL, FAAN

+Emerita Faculty
*Living Legend
**Edge Runner