Loyola Nursing launches new research speaker series

By Ashley Rowland

Feb. 18, 2026

 

The Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing is launching a new speaker series to highlight and strengthen growing areas of research expertise within the school’s team of nurse scientists. 

The Marcella Niehoff Endowed Chair for Nursing Research Distinguished Scholar Series will bring in experts from across the country who specialize in topics being studied by the school’s researchers. 

“This is a way for our young and growing team of nurse scientists to collaborate and connect with the best and brightest minds in their fields, and through that collaboration bring depth and new insights to their work,” said Professor Karen Saban, who holds the Endowed Chair position. “We wanted to find new ways to support our researchers as they advance their work, and in doing so, continue to make Loyola Nursing known as a place to do innovative research in unique areas of focus.”   

The Endowed Chair series will hold its inaugural webinar on March 19, featuring Professor Yvette Conley, associate dean for research at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing. The event is open to the public; in-person and Zoom attendance options are available.  

Conley is an internationally recognized nurse scientist who studies molecular genomics and precision health, an approach that uses big data to predict and treat disease at the individual level.  

Her current research focuses on improving the lives of patients who have suffered “neurological insult,” an acute or chronic trauma to the nervous system, such as stroke, infection, or cancer and cancer treatment, and are at risk of cognitive decline.  

Conley’s work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health for more than 25 years, and she directs an NIH-funded training program for nurse scientists to incorporate omics, a broad term for the study of biological molecules, into their work. 

Several Loyola Nursing researchers also conduct genomics research, including Saban, who studies health disparities through her work in stress inflammation and epigenetics across the lifespan in multiple populations. Others include Assistant Professor Alexandra Nowak, who studies the biological pathways that may contribute to high rates of preterm birth in Black women; and Assistant Professor Susan Grayson, who studies cancer genomics and social determinants of health, with a focus on the relationship between breast cancer genomic changes and patient symptoms. 

Announcement of the Endowed Chair Speaker Series comes as Loyola Nursing has hired several tenure track nurse scientists and jumped to its highest-ever national ranking for research funding in 2025. According to the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research, Loyola Nursing ranked 43rd among nursing schools in 2025 for NIH funding, a jump of 13 spots from the previous year.  

The new ranking follows the University’s designation as a Research 1 (R1) university – the highest research classification – in 2025 from the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. 

Presenters in the Endowed Chair Speaker Series will address topics of interest to researchers, educators, and students across disciplines, Saban said.  

The series, she added, is about more than speeches. In keeping with the school’s focus on providing a mentorship environment for its team of junior scientists, Conley will meet with nursing faculty for individual consultations and offer ideas for developing their research.  

Many of those faculty, who are considered early- or mid-career, are conducting foundational research and applying for grants that will sustain their work long-term.  

“Providing this level of support for our nurse scientists is part of our vision for research development at Loyola Nursing,” Saban said.  

The first Endowed Chair Speaker Series event will be held March 19, from 11:45 am to 12:45 pm, in Room 304 at the Health Sciences Campus.