School of Nursing

Featured Research Projects

Lisa Cleveland

Principal Investigator(s): Dr. Lisa Cleveland

Project Sponsor/ Title: HHS/The Impact of Prenatal Opioid Use on the Maternal Infant Dyad

Award Amount: $1,379,000 Project Period: 08/29/2019 – 08/31/2020

Over the past 15 years, there has been a nearly 5-fold increase in opioid use in pregnant women. Infants who are prenatally exposed to opioids are often born experiencing opioid withdrawal; a condition known as Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS). Bexar County has the highest rate of NAS in Texas; one third of all reported cases. This equates to 300-400 infants born experiencing opioid withdrawal in our community. Little is known about the long-term impact of prenatal opioid exposure on the maternal-infant dyad. Therefore, with funding from the Texas Health & Human Services Commission, our team is conducting research to explore the longitudinal consequences of prenatal opioid exposure.

View Dr. Cleveland's other featured projects.


Carole White

Principal Investigator(s): Dr. Carole White (PI) & Dr. Lark Ford

Project Sponsor/ Title: PCORI/ Stakeholder Alliance for Better Palliative Care for Persons with Dementia and their Caregivers

Award Amount: $249,980 Project Period: 08/01/2018 – 07/31/2020

The ultimate goal is to establish a sustainable partnership that will conduct and disseminate research that is relevant and important to people with dementia, their family caregivers, healthcare providers, and policymakers to ensure optimal palliative care in dementia.


Azizeh K Sowan

Principal Investigator(s): Dr. Azizeh K Sowan (PI) & Dr. Kathleen R Stevens 

Project Sponsor/ Title: SALSI/ Enhancing Safety and Security of Clinical Alarm Systems: An interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical-Human Analysis

Award Amount: $50,000 Project Period: 06/01/2018 – 05/31/2019

This proposed seed project represents our first step towards ultimately tackling the HISs cybersecurity problem with a focus on investigating the safety and cybersecurity problems of Clinical Alarm Systems (CASs).