Pre / Postdoc Fellowships
Interventions for Preventing & Managing Chronic Illness
Ways to Study
- On-Campus
The NIH T32 Pre- and Postdoctoral Fellowship Program at Carolina Nursing: Preventing and Managing Chronic Illness
Carolina Nursing’s T32 Fellowship Program, Interventions for Preventing and Managing Chronic Illness (T32NR007091), has been continuously funded since 1996. The objective of this program involves training nurse scientists to design and test theory-based interventions to prevent chronic illness and reduce their deleterious effects on health and quality of life. The T32 Fellowship Program’s current directors, Dr. Cathi Propper and Dr. Cheryl Giscombe, and Associate Director, Dr. Jessica Williams, were successfully funded to lead the most recent competing renewal (NIH/NINR; 2T32NR007091-31; 2026-20231). With this funding, the program’s reach and impact have been expanded with an emphasis on multi-level determinants of health with multi-level stressors as key contributors to chronic disease and adverse health outcomes.
Moreover, the T32 Fellowship Program focuses on how stressors impact biopsychosocial processes, such as autonomic nervous system function, inflammation, emotional regulation, and behavioral responses across the lifespan. Our training program employs a multi-level approach to examine how distal-level factors (e.g., community, structural, policy) drive stress at the individual level, underscoring their critical role in intervention development. We also provide intervention development training that focuses on multiple levels, including individual, community, organizational, and structural. Our goal is to enhance trainees’ ability to establish and sustain community and practice- based partnerships, recognizing that many major stressors originate in non-clinical environments.
The T32 award program capitalizes on the expertise of our faculty, our highly innovative academic programs, the strong research infrastructure within our School and at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as well as established research and community partnerships throughout UNC and our state.
We aim to recruit and retain a cadre of highly qualified nurses dedicated to scientific careers focused on designing, testing, and translating multi-level, theory- and evidence-based interventions to prevent and manage chronic illnesses. Our training goals are to: (1) equip trainees with didactic and experiential knowledge of biopsychosocial pathways through which multi-level stressors contribute to adverse outcomes in individuals with, or at risk for developing, chronic illness, (2) prepare trainees to apply intervention mapping to design multilevel, theory- and evidence-based interventions that target actionable approaches to optimize health in populations at risk, and (3) strengthen trainee competencies in building and sustaining community and practice-based partnerships at the outset of their training, fostering an understanding of how these are essential for the timely and effective execution of interventional research and future translation into practice and policy. Our T32 fellowship aligns with the NINR strategic priorities (2025) to solve pressing health challenges and inform practice and policy, leveraging nursing science to improve population health and optimize health for all (NINR, 2025).
T32 Pre-doctoral Fellowship awards are for one year and are renewable for a total of up to three years based on academic performance and scholarly productivity during the appointment period. Pre-doctoral trainees work on their mentor’s funded research projects and develop a portfolio that includes presentations, publications, and individual NRSA applications (F31). Pre-doctoral trainees must be a United States citizen or permanent resident who has been accepted to or is currently enrolled in the School of Nursing’s PhD Program. Accepted applicants to the PhD program will be considered for the T32 based on the fit between their research interests and the focus of the T32, their academic record, and other aspects of their PhD program application. A separate application is not required.
T32 Post-doctoral Fellowship awards are also for one year and may be renewed for a second year based on scholarly productivity during the appointment period. Postdoctoral trainees work with a faculty mentor and are also expected to produce scholarly work, apply for funding, and actively participate in an interdisciplinary research center relevant to their research. Additionally, postdoctoral fellows are expected to develop their own project that builds on existing infrastructure and ongoing research projects.
Current Pre-Doctoral Trainees
| Moriah Fender | Brian Garcia |
| Liz Finnessy | Grace Russell |
| Taleah Frazier | Tu Tran |
Current Post-Doctoral Trainees
| Elizabeth Bernhardt | Mirlene Perry |
Questions?
Please contact the T32 Program Directors Dr. Cathi Propper or Dr. Cheryl Giscombe. You may also contact the Program Associate Director, Dr. Jessica Williams.
