Alumni/ae Spotlight

Elizabeth I. Merwin, (PhD, ’88)
Professor and Associate Dean for Research,
School of Nursing, University of Virginia

Elizabeth (Beth) began her career as a registered nurse specializing in psychiatric nursing.  She was the director of nurses at Tidewater Psychiatric Institute before obtaining her doctorate degree and joining the ranks of academia.  Since completion of her PhD, Beth has authored numerous publications focusing on provider shortages in psychiatric and primary care, nursing shortages, rural health and mental health, analysis of secondary data, and quality determinants.  She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.

Beth joined UVA in 1988 as an Assistant Professor of Nursing.  She currently holds dual appointments in the School of Nursing and in the Department of Health Evaluation Sciences in the School of Medicine.  She is the Principal Investigator of an NIH funded research center on rural health at UVA which is expected to begin this Fall.  She leads a dynamic group of interdisciplinary researchers working to improve the quality of rural health and mental health care.

Beth is also the primary investigator for a NIH grant to study the impact of shortages in mental health professionals, RNs, advance practice nurses and primary care professionals on health outcomes.  Her teaching responsibilities include a doctoral course in Health Services Research in the School of Nursing and a course in database management, analysis of secondary data in the School of Medicine.

In addition, in the role of Associate Dean for Research, Beth facilitates a research intensive environment which supports complex faculty research programs in a School of Nursing currently ranked in the top 16 in the country for NIH funded research. She currently resides in Glen Allen, Virginia.