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Dr. Grady at her Desk Patricia A. Grady,
PhD, RN, FAAN

Director, National Institute of Nursing Research


Welcome to NINR
Welcome to the National Institute of Nursing Research. We are dedicated to improving the health and health care of Americans through the funding of nursing research and research training. Our mission is to promote and improve the health of individuals, families, communities, and populations. This mission is accomplished through support of research in a number of science areas.  Among those areas of research are chronic and acute diseases, health promotion and maintenance, symptom management, health disparities, caregiving, self-management, and the end of life. NINR also supports the training of new investigators who bring new ideas and help to further expand research programs. The ultimate goal of our research is its dissemination into clinical practice and into the daily lives of individuals and families.

About the Director
Patricia A. Grady, PhD, RN, FAAN, was appointed Director of the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) on April 3, 1995. She earned her undergraduate degree in nursing from Georgetown University in Washington, DC. She pursued her graduate education at the University of Maryland, receiving a master’s degree from the School of Nursing and a doctorate in physiology from its School of Medicine.

Under Dr. Grady’s leadership at NINR, the Institute has more than doubled its budget and significantly increased the number of research and training grants awarded. Dr. Grady has supported several major NINR initiatives, including pain management, end-of-life care, self-management of chronic illness, and caregiving research. NINR collaborates with other NIH institutes and centers in investigations that better the health of the nation. Dr. Grady serves as a co-chair to both the NIH Roadmap Committee on Research Teams of the Future and to the NIH Public Trust Initiative. Throughout her tenure as Director, Dr. Grady has supported the development of research and training opportunities for new researchers, including the NINR Summer Genetics Institute (SGI). This 2-month, full-time summer research training program, held on the NIH campus, targets nursing faculty, graduate students, and advanced practice nurses in order to expand competency and foster interest in genetics and related research.

An internationally recognized researcher, Dr. Grady’s scientific focus has been primarily in stroke, with emphasis on arterial stenosis and cerebral ischemia. She is a member of several distinguished scientific organizations, including the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science, the Society for Neuroscience, the American Academy of Nursing, and the American Neurological Association. She is also a fellow of the American Heart Association Stroke Council.

Before coming to NIH, Dr. Grady held several academic positions and served concurrently on the faculties of the University of Maryland School of Nursing and School of Medicine.

In 1988, Dr. Grady joined the NIH as an extramural research program administrator in the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) in the areas of stroke and brain imaging. Two years later, she served on the NIH Task Force for Medical Rehabilitation Research, which established the first long-range research agenda for the field of medical rehabilitation research. In 1992, she assumed the responsibilities of NINDS Assistant Director and, from 1993 to 1995, she was Deputy Director and Acting Director of NINDS. Dr. Grady served as a charter member of the NIH Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center Board of Governors.

Dr. Grady has authored or co-authored numerous published articles and papers on hypertension, cerebrovascular permeability, vascular stress, and cerebral edema. She is an editorial board member on the journals Stroke; Stroke and Cerebral Vascular Diseases; and Neurotherapeutics, The Journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics. Dr. Grady lectures and speaks on a wide range of topics, including future directions in nursing research, developments in the neurological sciences, and federal research opportunities.

Dr. Grady has been recognized with several prestigious honors and awards for her leadership and scientific accomplishments, including the first awardee of the Centennial Achievement Medal from the Georgetown University School of Nursing and Health Sciences. She was also named the inaugural Rozella M. Schlotfeld distinguished lecturer at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University and received the honorary degree of Doctor of Public Service from the University of Maryland. Dr. Grady was named the Excellence in Nursing Lecturer by the Council on Cardiovascular Nurses of the American Heart Association. Dr. Grady has received numerous honors and awards from universities throughout the United States. In 2005, Columbia University School of Nursing honored Dr. Grady with its prestigious Second Century Award for Excellence in Health Care. During that same year she also received Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa, degrees from Thomas Jefferson University and the Medical University of South Carolina.

Dr. Grady is a past recipient of the NIH Merit Award and received the Public Health Service Superior Service Award for her exceptional leadership.

Selected Interviews and Articles 
Nursing Notes Newsletter - Dr. Grady was interviewed for the April 2008 edition of "Nursing Notes," a newsletter distributed by Johnson & Johnson, as part of the company's "Discover Nursing" campaign.

Q&A with Dr. Grady - Dr. Grady was interviewed by Nursing Spectrum on how to get started in Nursing Research.

Nursing Spectrum Article - Dr. Grady was interviewed as part of an article highlighting the importance of Nursing Research.

NIH Radio Interview - NINR funded study shows that a child’s weight may be influenced by the mother even before the child is actually born. December 2005.

Improving End of Life Care - J Palliat Med. 2005;8 Suppl 1:s1-3. Introduction: Papers from the National Institutes of Health State-of-the-Science Conference on Improving End-of-Life Care. NINR and the NIH Office of Medical Applications of Research, along with many co-sponsors, held an interdisciplinary State-of-the-Science Conference on Improving End-of-Life Care in October 2005.

A Successful Kickoff - Nursing Outlook, February 2006. A description of the conference that began the year-long celebration of NINR’s 20th anniversary.

NINR Working Group on Optimizing pregnancy outcomes in minority populations - Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2005 May;192(5 Suppl):S1-2.

Biological researchers: building nursing science - Nursing Outlook, March-April 2005. A survey of nurse investigators funded by the NIH who carry out biological research.

NINR Director & others review nursing and the genomic revolution - Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 37(2):98-101, 2005.

Guest Commentary in the NCI Cancer Bulletin - May 25, 2004
 

 

Page last updated Jul 18, 2008
NINR 
Research News


Welcome to our new NINR Website! Please let us know if you have any comments!

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Dr. Grady invites you to review these NIH Initiatives in which she participates as a leader.

NIH Pain Consortium

NIH Public Trust Initiative

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A Brief Skill-Building Program Can Reduce STD or HIV Risk Among Inner-City African-American Women.  More

 

 
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