Jing Wang, Ph.D., M.P.H., M.S.N., RN, FAAN, has joined the UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing as vice dean for research.
Dr. Wang, a professor and the holder of the Hugh Roy Cullen Professorship in Nursing, will guide faculty and student research within the School of Nursing. She brings expertise on the use of health care technology in inter-professional research, education and collaborative practice, especially in aging, chronic illness management and primary care.
Establishing Center on Smart and Connected Healthcare Technologies
“We are pleased to welcome Dr. Wang to the School of Nursing and are looking forward to her establishing the Center on Smart and Connected Healthcare Technologies that will benefit the entire university,” said Eileen T. Breslin, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, dean of the School of Nursing.
The center has several missions that include:
– Initiating a living lab for South Texas seniors who are aging in their homes to address digital and health disparities, especially among Hispanic seniors;
– Building a collaborative with clinical partners and a practice-based network;
– Instituting an innovation lab in the School of Nursing for faculty and student think tanks, clinical training and testing; and
– Establishing a training and simulation center to support students, faculty and clinicians on telehealth, connected health and smart home concepts.
This new center has engaged the support of the School of Medicine, School of Nursing, Office of the Vice President for Research and the Office of the President.
Encouraging new research in School of Nursing
“I am very excited to join the School of Nursing and to have the opportunity to encourage fellow faculty members and students to build upon and expand their research programs,” Dr. Wang said. “I also am looking forward to bringing my passion for health care technology to UT Health San Antonio. Over the next few years, I plan to work with colleagues in the schools of Nursing, Medicine, Dentistry, Biomedical Sciences and other health professions to develop new ways to use technology to improve the lives of patients, such as those with type 2 diabetes and obesity, as these conditions can cause so many other health problems,” she said.
Career highlights
In her previous position at UTHealth Houston, Dr. Wang held the John P. McGovern Distinguished Professorship in Nursing and directed the Center of Excellence in Mobile and Connected Health in the UTHealth Consortium on Aging. She will continue as an adjunct faculty member in the School of Biomedical Informatics at UTHealth Houston.
While at UTHealth Houston, Dr. Wang received several honors and awards including fellowship in the American Academy of Nursing, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholar award, the 2016 Excellence in Nursing Award from the Good Samaritan Foundation, the TEDMED research scholar and the 2016 Macy Faculty Scholar from the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation. Dr. Wang has served on The University of Texas System Diabetes Blue Ribbon Advisory Board as well as on the UTHealth Houston Center on Inter-Professional Collaboration Advisory Council.
Dr. Wang has more than 100 peer-reviewed journal publications and presentations at local, national and international scientific meetings. She is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) Aging, a new sister publication of JMIR (a top-ranked informatics journal) that focuses on technological solutions and big data analytics in aging.
Funded research
Her work has been funded by such groups as the American Association of Diabetes Educators, Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the National Institutes of Health, the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
National leadership
At the national level, Dr. Wang is a member of the workgroup that updated the “2017 National Standards on Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support” and is a member of the steering committee of the new American Nurses Association Connected Health/Telehealth Professional Issues Panel that will update the nursing standards in this area. She is a Harvard Macy Scholar in the Program for Educators in Health Professions (now a teaching faculty in this program) and Leading Innovations in Health Care & Education at Harvard Medical School.
About UT Health San Antonio
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, now called UT Health San Antonio®, is one of the country’s leading health sciences universities. With missions of teaching, research, healing and community engagement, its schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have produced 35,850 alumni who are leading change, advancing their fields and renewing hope for patients and their families throughout South Texas and the world. To learn about the many ways “We make lives better®,” visit www.uthscsa.edu.