CRISP

News from the Center for Chronic Illness Self-Management & Prevention

Welcome back!

CRISP is excited to announce several new updates in our center, including:

a new Core Chair
a Just In Time award
a new Post-Doctoral hire
a successful spring symposium
a successful Hermeneutic Phenomonology Institute
another member meeting!

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CRISP's Spring Symposium was Saturday, May 17th, 2025!

CRISP hosted a spring symposium, Saturday, May 17th, 2025. Victor Sutton, PhD, chief of community health and health services at Mississippi State Department of Health and principal investigator at the Jackson Heart Study Community Engagement Center, who presented, “The Art of Science of Community Engagement.”

Additional speakers included Stewart Giddings, MBA, Assistant Director of YouTurn in Omaha, Juan Santamaria, MD, associate professor in the UNMC Department of Surgery, Division of Surgical Oncology, and Mariah Jackson, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medical Nutrition at the UNMC College of Allied Health Professions, as well as Douglas A. Stoller, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, UNMC Division of Cardiovascular Medicine Medical Director, Cardiovascular Genetics Program, Medical Director, Heart Failure Research, and Dr. Mariya Kovaleva, PhD, RN, Assistant Professor in the UNMC College of Nursing.

Community/Patient Advocate Julia Weathers and Patient Advocate/Former Caregiver Jean Jackson were among the panel—Ms. Weathers shared her experience with cancer prevention & self-management, and Ms. Jackson gave a personal account of her time as a caregiver to her own mother, who had dementia, and was able to offer insight on clinical trials.

The symposium featured an abstract poster session and focused on topics of: Advanced Colorectal Cancer, One Stop Cancer Shop, Burden and Loneliness Among Dementia Family Caregivers, Spiritual Needs of Black People Living with Dementia, and Exercise Among People with Heart Failure.

In attendance were 17 academic professionals and 21 community members of Omaha. Feedback from the community attendees was very positive: My favorite part was “the collaborative nature of discussion and Q&A's. I liked how everything related back to community interventions,” and “Learning about all kinds of research projects being conducted and how community members can collaborate with researchers.” Other community members mentioned they “liked knowing about what is happening in the medical field,” and they appreciated the “community engagement,” which was really the objective of the symposium..

Meet Our Newest Core Addition

Research & Scholarship Core - Brandon Varilek, PhD, RN, CCTC, CNE, CHPN

Brandon Varilek is replacing Dr. Windy Alonso who has accepted a faculty position at University of Virginia School of Nursing.

There are multiple cores organized under CRISP. Each core is co-chaired by a College of Nursing Faculty and has a specific focus area.

Save the Date: Third CRISP Membership Networking Event

CRISP would like to welcome all of our CRISP members!

Join us for a third membership networking event, Wednesday, September 24, 2025! See link for more details.

CRISP Held Member Networking Event February 6th

On Thursday, February 6, 2025, all current CRISP members gathered for a CRISP Member Networking event. Members chatted on zoom while networking, sharing information, and collaborating with one another on funding opportunities, research, and publications.

If you would like to join our group, please sign up by clicking on the button below!

Membership

Please Celebrate Our

Our members have been on a publishing role in 2025!

Michele Balas:

Tang, B.H., Manalo, J., Chowdhury, S.R. Aldrich, J.M., Cordoza, M. Louzon, P.R., Balas, M.C., Stollings, J.L., McNett, M., Dearness, K., Estrada-Codecido, J., Chaudhuri, D., Carayannopoulos, K.L., Lewis, K. (2025). Melatonin Use in the Intensive Care Unit: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Critical Care Medicine. 53() Published Ahead of Print

Lawson, T.N., Tan, A., McNett, M., Balas, M.C., Brinda, A., Brummel, N.E., Happ, M.B., Tate, J.A. (2025). Delirium Among Critically Ill Stroke Patients: A Prospective Observational Cohort Study of Prevalence, Severity, and Outcomes. American Journal of Critical Care. 34(4), 266-273.^*,#,%

Mariya Kovaleva:

Kovaleva, M. A., Baumberger, B. F., Maiga, A., Dietrich, M. S., Lauderdale, J., Balas, M. C., & Maxwell. C. (2025). Experiences with perioperative care for unpaid caregivers of persons living with memory impairment. Journal of Trauma Nursing. https://doi.org/10.1097/jtn.0000000000000873

Members' Publications!

See list below for this quarter's publications.

Courtney Locker:

(Senior Author) Brubeck, H. F., Riggles, K. E., Bass, R. S., Wahl, E. R., Mount, G., Shoback, D. M., Andrews, J. S., Garcia, J. M., Orkaby, A. R., Baker, J. F., Katz, P. P., Wysham, K. D., & Loecker, C. N. (2025). Evaluating the Longitudinal Association of Rheumatoid Arthritis Disease Activity with Phenotypic Frailty: Evidence for Secondary Frailty?. Arthritis Care & Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/acr.25615

Bhide S., Roul, P., England B., Cannon G., Singh N., Loecker C., Kunkel G., Mikuls T., Shoback D., Michaud K., Katz P., Garcia J., Orkaby A., Baker J., Wysham K. (2025). Frailty carries an increased risk of death in rheumatoid arthritis. Seminars in Arthritis & Rheumatism. Available at SSRN http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5357015

Joachim Voss:

Voss JG. MNRS Foundation News. Western Journal of Nursing Research. 2025;0(0). doi:10.1177/01939459251356336

Voss JG. MNRS Foundation: Celebrating Our Scholars! Western Journal of Nursing Research. 2025;47(9):899. doi:10.1177/01939459251356045

Guenzel receives CRISP Just In Time Award!

Dr. Nick Guenzel, Assistant Professor in the UNMC College of Nursing, started his nursing career by working in an inpatient psychiatric unit and as a psychiatric nurse practitioner in a private practice. He now works as a psychiatric nurse practitioner with people in recovery from addiction. His research focuses on addiction recovery, mental health disparities, and Native American mental health. On July 16, 2024, Dr. Guenzel received a CRISP JITA for his research proposal, "Efficacy of Holotropic Breathwork in Addiction Recovery.”

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New Post-Doc on the scene!

Kirsten Hepburn, PhD, BA, BSN, RN, defended her dissertation July 30, 2025, and accepted a Post-Doctoral position in the College of Nursing. Her post-doc advisor will be Dr. Michele Balas. Congratulations to Kirsten!

Tonya Cejka, MA, MSFE, BBA

CRISP Project Coordinator

Center for Nursing Science

Office 50109

Editorial Services

Editorial Services Available for Everyone, Not Just CON

Have a manuscript, publication, etc., needing editing? Need grant writing assistance? Just use the link below to upload your document!

Tonya Cejka will edit CRISP members' documents and return to you within seven days. Tonya has been an editor on the VCR's editorial staff and has successfully edited for scientists across the UNMC campus.

Tonya has a grant writing certificate from the University of South Carolina and is available to support CRISP members' intramural and foundation grant writing needs outside of tasks performed by departmental grant offices.

In addition to our services, we now have REDCap assistance on our website, in the form of a manual, and Tonya can help you with any questions you may have!

Lally, Varilek, and Smith receive funding for their proposal, “Reducing Cancer Health Disparities in Nebraska."

Drs. Lally, Varilek, and Smith have received $25,000 in funding from the Nebraska Center for Women's Health Research for their proposed pilot project, Let’s Talk About Cancer: Educating Community Health Workers in Cancer Risk, Screening, Prevention & Treatment Guidelines for Minoritized Women! The overall goal of their project is to fill gaps in knowledge and support related to cancer risk, screening, prevention, and treatment guidelines for minoritized women in Nebraska--which is consistent with Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Cancer Plan 2025–2030 priorities. Through the project, the team will further assess the community cancer education resources accessible to women in and around North Omaha, including community health workers, and satisfaction with these resources using a community based participatory approach. This assessment will guide the creation of an educational curriculum for CHWs that will be assessed for feasibility, appropriateness, and acceptability.

CRISP Equipment & Technology

CRISP has equipment and technology available for members for use in research. Our inventory is always being updated. Please see our website for a list of equipment and technology available. Sign up here, or if you have a question about any of the items available, please contact Tonya Cejka.

Institute for Hermeneutic Phenomenology held July 16-19, 2025

The Qualitative Research Lab brought back the Institute for Hermeneutic Phenomenology this July 2025!

This year's institute featured visiting philosopher, Dr. Susan Bredlau.

Qualitative Research Lab

Providing consultation and assistance in research design, data collection, data analysis, and dissemination styles for researchers planning, proposing, or implementing qualitative research projects.

For more information, or to request services, click the button below!

Request Services

Who We Are, Our Mission,

Our Vision

The Center for Chronic Illness Self-Management & Prevention (CRISP) is an interdisciplinary community of faculty, students, and experts (clinical, academic and community members) whose work and interests focus on the prevention and self-management of chronic illnesses including, but not limited to, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer.

Our Mission is to be a leader and innovator in the science of self-management and prevention of chronic illness.

CRISP

Center for Chronic Illness Self-Management & Prevention

985330 Nebraska Medical Center

Omaha NE 68198-5330

Website