Rutgers Nursing Magazine - Summer 2021

Charlotte Thomas-Hawkins, PhD, RN, FAAN, Interim Associate Dean of Nursing Science; Associate Professor; and Director, Center for Healthcare Quality. comes and decided to start researching the question. As an advanced practice nurse, howev- er, she found she didn’t have time for research. So as much as she mourned leaving clinical practice, she decided to get her PhD and, in 2000, joined the faculty at Rutgers School of Nursing. She adapted quickly. “I learned how to teach,” she says, “and discovered that I liked it.” A great pleasure is helping stu- dents surmount their academic struggles, as a professor once did for her. “When I see the lightbulbs go on in their heads,” she says, “that’s what keeps me going on.” With 27 studies under her belt, research continues to be a driver. At the time of this writing, Thomas-Hawkins was preparing the first of three manuscripts to report her findings on how racism impacts nurses’ emotional health. She hopes at some point to study how nurs- es’ experience of racism also affects pa- tient care. As a researcher, she says, “you always have more questions.” n R U T G E R S N U R S I N G / S P R I N G / S U M M E R 2 0 2 1 1 2 / 1 3