Lyda Arévalo, Ph.D., M.S.N., R.N., has received a second fellowship from the Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity Program.
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Lyda Arévalo, Ph.D., M.S.N., R.N., has received a Claire M. Fagin Fellowship from the Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity Program, a partnership between the John A. Hartford Foundation and the American Academy of Nursing. Dr. Arévalo is an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Acute Nursing Care in the School of Nursing at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

The two-year, $120,000 fellowship supports advanced research training and mentorship of nurses with doctoral degrees who are committed to academic careers in the field of geriatric nursing.

First faculty member to receive Fagin fellowship
Dr. Arévalo, who earned her Ph.D. in April, is the first UT Health Science Center faculty member to receive a Fagin fellowship. She also is the first to receive a two-year, $80,000 pre-doctoral scholarship from the program, which was awarded to her in 2006. Ninty-one Hartford scholars and 60 Claire M. Fagin fellows, as well as four Master’s of Business Administration students have gone through the program since it began in 2000.

Dr. Arévalo credits colleagues for expert mentoring
“It is really humbling to know that I have been selected twice by the foundation for this program,” Dr. Arévalo said. “It is highly competitive. I thank Drs. Sharon Lewis and Carrie Jo Braden for their mentoring during my predoctoral scholarship. Dr. Martha Medrano also was one of my faithful and generous supporters, always willing to provide input and guidance. Being able to say that I am a Hartford scholar and now a Hartford fellow opens doors. I hope that people recognize that it is not by my merit alone, but the merit of those who so generously mentored me, that I was able to receive this honor.”

Dr. Lewis holds the Berneice Castella Distinguished Professorship in the Department of Acute Nursing Care. Dr. Braden is associate dean for research in the School of Nursing. And Dr. Medrano is a clinical professor of psychiatry, pediatrics, family and community medicine, and obstetrics and gynecology, and associate dean of continuing medical education in the School of Medicine. She also serves as director of the Medical Hispanic Center of Excellence.

Funds will be used to assist caregivers of patients with Alzheimer’s disease
Dr. Arévalo used the predoctoral scholarship to study the experiences of Latino/Hispanic caregivers of Alzheimer’s disease patients. The study became her doctoral dissertation. Funding from her new postdoctoral fellowship will be used to broaden her dissertation theme, continue to formulate a culturally informed theory of care giving and evaluate the cross-cultural validity of an instrument to assess the level of burden of Latino/Hispanic Alzheimer’s caregivers.

In addition to funding her new research, the funds will support leadership and research training, including funds for her and her mentor, Dr. Lewis, to attend the annual Hartford leadership conferences and distinguished lectures.