Nursing professor honored by American Public Health Association
Professor Barbara Polivka, right, receives the Ruth B. Freeman Award from the American Public Health Association.
Last month, Professor Barbara Polivka, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N., received the Ruth B. Freeman Award from the American Public Health Association's Pubic Health Nursing Section. The award honors a person who has had a distinguished career in public health administration, education, policy, practice or research. Polivka was recognized at the association's annual meeting in Atlanta on Nov. 7.
Polivka, the Shirley B. Powers Endowed Chair in Nursing at UofL, has excelled as a nursing instructor, chair, author and researcher. She teaches and advises doctoral students and mentors undergraduate and master’s students in research. She has received more than $5 million in extramural research related to environmental health and health services from the National Institutes of Health.
Her current research focuses on virtual simulation safety training for home health workers, comprehensive phenotyping specific to older adults with asthma and the relationship between coal ash and children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
