The latest installment of the URI College of Nursing Distinguished Lecture Series this fall will feature Dr. Shannon Zenk, Director of the National Institute of Nursing Research.

The lecture is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 20, 5-7:30 p.m. The event, which includes continuing education contact hours for nurses, will be live-streamed in the auditorium at the Nursing Education Center in Providence. Attendees are invited to a reception in the NEC’s River Lounge before the lecture at 4 p.m.

Space is limited and registration is required. Please register here.

Dr. Zenk was previously a Nursing Collegiate Professor in the Department of Population Health Nursing Science at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) College of Nursing, and a Fellow at the UIC Institute for Health Research and Policy. She earned her bachelor’s in nursing, magna cum laude, from Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington; her master’s degrees in public health nursing and community health sciences from UIC; and her doctorate in health behavior and health education from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her predoctoral training was in psychosocial factors in mental health and illness, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health.

Dr. Zenk’s own research focuses on social inequities and health with a goal of identifying effective, multilevel approaches to improve health and eliminate racial/ethnic and socioeconomic health disparities. Her research portfolio has included NIH-supported work into urban food environments, community health solutions and veterans’ health. Through pioneering research on the built environment and food deserts, Dr. Zenk and her colleagues increased national attention to the problem of inadequate access to healthful foods in low-income and racially diverse neighborhoods.

Dr. Zenk was elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing in 2013, received the President’s Award from the Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research in 2018, and was inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Nurse Researchers Hall of Fame in 2019.

This nursing continuing professional development activity has been submitted to the Rhode Island State Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation, and is awaiting approval for 1.0 contact hour.