Villanova University College of Nursing professor receives award

Suzanne C. Smeltzer, RN, Ed.D., FAAN, associate professor in the College of Nursing and project director, Health Promotion for Women with Disabilities was awarded the Labe C. Scheinberg Award for the Best Paper in Neurorehabilitation at the June 2000 meeting of the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC) is an international, interdisciplinary organization comprised of researchers, neurologists, nurses, psychologists, social workers, occupational and physical therapists, and others from around the world who specialize in the care of persons with multiple sclerosis.

This prestigious award for best paper is named for Labe C. Scheinberg, M.D., an internationally known neurologist and one of the founders of CMSC. The award includes support for the recipient to participate in a future meeting of Rehabilitation in Multiple Sclerosis (RIMS), a European organization, to present the paper. Dr. Smeltzer will attend the RIMS meeting in Copenhagen in fall 2001.

Dr. Smeltzer’s award-winning paper presented the findings of a study of bone density and osteoporosis risk facts in women with multiple sclerosis. The study was conducted as part of a grant awarded by the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation to the College of Nursing to address health promotion for women with disabilities. In addition to conducting studies, the faculty working on the project with Dr. Smeltzer have developed and presented educational programs about health promotion to women with disabilities and their caregivers, identified strategies to increase the sensitivity of health care providers about the health needs of women with disabilities, and created a web site. The grant from Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation also supports pilot studies designed to increase knowledge about health issues of disabled women. The results of several studies supported through the grant will be presented Sept. 15 to 16 at a conference on women with disabilities sponsored by the College of Nursing’s Health Promotion for Women with Disabilities Project.