University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing (PhD) student and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Future of Nursing Scholar Jacqueline B. Vo, BSN, RN, recently completed a James and John Kirklin Institute for Research in Surgical Outcomes internship in the UAB Department of Surgery.
The internship, directed by John W. Kirklin Chair of Cardiovascular Surgery James K. Kirklin, MD, focuses on analyzing and improving outcomes of surgical therapies and their impacts on patients, society at all levels and the health care system. It introduces graduate students in the health professions to real-world clinical research projects that encompass basic concepts in database management, study design, research methodology and statistical analysis.
Jacqueline VoFor Vo, it extended her knowledge in research-oriented pursuits to better prepare her to make substantial contributions to the body of knowledge in quality of life for cancer survivors, and to take those findings and translate them into clinical practice. She is currently working on her dissertation, “Cardiovascular Disease Risk Among Breast Cancer Survivors” under the mentorship of Associate Dean for Research and 2016 UAB Distinguished Faculty Lecturer Karen Meneses, PhD, RN, FAAN.“I was able to immerse myself in research and develop valuable statistical analysis skills that will serve me well in the future,” Vo said. “It was an incredible opportunity as a PhD student in the UAB School of Nursing to work with interdisciplinary researchers from the UAB School of Medicine as part of the Kirklin Institute.”
The internship allowed Vo to expanded her knowledge of statistical analysis system programming and outcomes research; work directly with statisticians on active projects; develop a greater understanding of survival analysis, hazard analysis and competing outcomes and their implementation; learn abstract development and participate in numerous other research-focused activities.
“Learning more about cardiac outcomes research from innovative researchers in the field like Dr. Kirklin will greatly benefit my dissertation work as I seek to improve quality of life for breast cancer survivors,” Vo said.
