Nursing school to focus on chronic diseases

With the establishment of a new center devoted to chronic diseases, UMSN will focus on the complexity and self-management of chronic disease (CSCD) including obesity, cancer, heart disease, allergies, Alzheimer's disease and diabetes.

"A very strong tenet of nursing science is self-management, both in terms of preventing disease and living well with chronic disease," said Debra L. Barton, RN, PhD, in a press release. "We can look at process issues at the systems level, health care delivery, and we can leverage big data to understand complex systems. We have a comprehensive variety of expertise that fits under this umbrella of health and wellness."

UMSN associate professor Ivo Dinov, PhD, added: "The CSCD center is unique as it engages multidisciplinary complexity-study investigators working on research methods, computational analytics, and their direct health care applications for self-management of chronic illness. The CSCD provides clinical, bio-social and statistical expertise, computational resources, study-design consulting, and training opportunities."