Heather L. Tubbs Cooley
Dr. Heather Tubbs Cooley is an expert in pediatric and perinatal health care quality and patient safety, with a research program focused on the care delivery mechanisms linking the organization and financing of nursing services with patient outcomes. Incorporating theoretical frameworks and methods from health services research, psychology and systems engineering, she studies clinician workload, staffing resources and dynamics, and other organizational factors that affect the reliable delivery of high-quality nursing care. Her work spans pediatric populations and settings including general inpatient and home-based pediatric care and neonatal intensive care environments and has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.
Dr. Tubbs Cooley began her clinical career as a pediatric medical-surgical nurse and has worked in pediatric inpatient and private duty settings. She has extensive experience as a clinician and scientist in top children’s hospitals and currently is a principal investigator in the Center for Perinatal Research at the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Dr. Tubbs Cooley teaches and advises across the undergraduate and graduate curriculums. She is an ardent supporter of students from underrepresented backgrounds and welcomes both students and post-doctoral research Fellows into her lab.
Education
- Post-doctoral Fellowship, Quality Improvement & Implementation Science, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
- PhD, Nursing, University of Pennsylvania
- BS, Nursing, Western Michigan University
News
Hyeryeong Lee, a first-year PhD student from South Korea, previously worked in a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), caring for critically ill children.
The children and nurses in the PICU inspired her. “One particularly memorable moment was when a child who had been hospitalized in the PICU for a long time stopped by the PICU to say hello to us in good health after being discharged. The moment truly supported the impact of our work and brought me joy,” Lee said.
Research aims to identify interventions for young breast cancer survivors