Three individuals from The University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing have been recognized for their academic excellence and dedication to the nursing profession with awards from Sigma Theta Tau International’s Epsilon Theta Chapter.
Emma Cho, PhD, RN, lab assistant, and Namuun Clifford, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, PhD student, each received $750 research grants to support their scholarly endeavors. Dongmi Kim, BSN, RN, PhD student, was awarded a $500 scholarship in recognition of her academic achievements and commitment to nursing leadership.
Loneliness and Diabetes in Aging
Emma Cho, PhD, RN, Lab Assistant
Emma Cho’s research focuses on loneliness and self-management behaviors in older adults with diabetes. She received her PhD from the School of Nursing. She completed a two-year T32 postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing’s NewCourtland Center for Transitions and Health, funded by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Nursing Research, where she was part of a training program in individualized care for at-risk older adults.
She has also participated in studies ranging from detecting signs of loneliness using passive sensor technology in the home to qualitative research examining older adults' perceptions and acceptance of such technology. Cho is actively engaged in both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies and is committed to developing evidence-based, person-centered interventions. Supported by a Sigma Nursing research grant, her current work focuses on examining the influence of loneliness on self-management behaviors in older adults with diabetes to inform targeted intervention strategies.
Her clinical background includes extensive experience in adult medical-surgical and telemetry units, where she provided care to individuals with complex, chronic conditions. Her dual expertise in clinical practice and research enables her to bridge the gaps between frontline nursing care and translational science, aiming to improve the health and well-being of older adults.
Digital Support for Heart Health
Namuun Clifford, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, PhD Student
Namuun Clifford is a nurse practitioner with over 14 years of clinical experience, including five years delivering virtual care as a telehealth nurse practitioner; she specializes in precision digital health for cardiovascular disease management. As a T32 NIH Precision Health Fellow, her research aims to design equitable digital health solutions that improve self-care and outcomes for underserved populations.
Her dissertation research focuses on understanding how digital tools, such as mobile apps and wearable devices, can support heart failure self-care while addressing disparities in digital tool engagement and outcomes. Using advanced machine learning and statistical modeling, she analyzes how social, digital and physical environments shape patterns of digital health use and intervention effectiveness among adults with heart failure enrolled in a decentralized NIH-funded clinical trial. Her goal is to advance precision-tailored, inclusive digital health interventions that reduce cardiovascular disease disparities.
Driven to Improve Health
Dongmi Kim, BSN, RN, PhD Student
Dongmi Kim is a fellow in the NIH-funded T32 Precision Health Training Program. She is passionate about advancing health equity through research focused on women’s and minority health. Her current work explores chronic disease management among Asian American women, with an emphasis on identifying the social determinants of health that influence risk factors for chronic kidney disease (CKD) in middle-aged women. By uncovering these underlying factors, Kim aims to design targeted, culturally responsive interventions to help prevent and manage CKD in this underserved population.