Rita Pickler

Rita Pickler, PhD, RN, FAAN, has more than 30 years of experience in research focused on the care of preterm infants and their families and improving their outcomes over time. She has been funded continuously by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)  for more than 20 years, including two randomized clinical trials testing interventions to improve neurobehavioral outcomes through the use of pattern caregiving experiences. Always interested in longterm neurodevelopment, she is currently a principal investigator on a grant from NIH exploring the effect of childhood diversity on cell senescence in a diverse sample of adolescents. She is also co-investigator on an NIH-funded randomized control trial testing an intervention to reduce adverse pregnancy outcomes including prematurity and on an NIH-funded study examining nursing care reliability in the neonatal intensive care unit. Planned studies include parent visitation in the NICU and further investigation of infant touch. As a faculty member and director of the PhD program in the College of Nursing, Pickler teaches PhD students about theory, philosophy of science, and grant writing. She has mentored numerous students in research and served as a sponsor on NIH-funded F31 awards. She has also supported many postdoctoral fellows and served as a K-award mentor for emerging scientists. 

Pickler started her career in neonatal intensive care, later practicing as a pediatric nurse practitioner. She received her PhD (nursing) from the University of Virginia and her BS and MS (nursing) from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She has been honored for her research many times, including induction into the American Academy of Nursing and the Sigma Theta Tau International Researcher Hall of Fame, and receipt of the Midwest Nursing Research Society 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Neonatal Nurses. In 2022, she was named a University Distinguished Scholar at The Ohio State University. She became the editor of Nursing Research in January 2018.  

View publications