Alexa Stuifbergen

Biography

Dr. Stuifbergen received her PhD in Nursing from The University of Texas at Austin, her MSN from The University of Texas at El Paso, and her BSN from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. Dean Stuifbergen has been involved in research related to health promotion for persons with chronic and disabling conditions for more than 30 years. She has taught content related to health promotion, self management of  chronic conditions, and rehabilitation in undergraduate and graduate courses, authored numerous articles on the subject, and served on national committees for the Rehabilitation Nursing Foundation, the National MS Society and the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Stuifbergen chaired the Adult Work Group for the DHHS Advisory Subcommittee to generate health promotion objectives for persons with disabilities for inclusion in Healthy People 2010 and she served as Chair (2011-2013) of the Nursing and Related Clinical Sciences Scientific Review Group for the National Institutes of Health. Her center grants and research projects studying health promotion and self-managemnt in adults with chronic disabling conditions (multiple sclerosis, post-polio syndrome, and fibromyalgia) have been funded for over $11.8 million by the National Institute of Nursing Research, the Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the Office of Research on Women's Health at the National Institutes of Health. She served as the Director of the NIH-funded Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research in Underserved Populations (2000-2011). Dr. Stuifbergen  served as a member of the National Advisory Council on Nursing Research at the National Institutes of Health (2015-2019) and was inducted in 2017 to the Sigma Theta Tau International Researcher Hall of Fame. She is also the James R. Dougherty, Jr. Centennial Professor in Nursing and holds the Laura Lee Blanton Chair in Nursing.