Doorenbos, Crooks receive top UIC research awards
Nursing faculty sweep the clinical sciences category
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Professor Ardith Doorenbos, PhD, RN, FAAN, Harriet H. Werley Endowed Chair for Nursing Research, was selected to receive the UIC Distinguished Researcher Award, and assistant professor Natasha Crooks, PhD, RN, was selected to receive the UIC Rising Star Award, both in the category of clinical sciences.
There is only one Distinguished Researcher and one Rising Star Award given in each category across the university. Other categories include basic life sciences, natural sciences and engineering, and social sciences.
The Distinguished Awards are given to individuals who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in their fields, while the Rising Star Awards are bestowed on individuals who show exceptional promise to become future leaders.
Profiles on both Doorenbos and Crooks were published by UIC Today to celebrate their awards.
Awardees will be honored at a ceremony on Wednesday, April 17 at 6 p.m. at the Field Museum as part of the inaugural UIC Research Week.
- Doorenbos is a palliative care nurse who researches pain management for a range of conditions, including cancer, sickle cell disease, and kidney disease, with a focus on alternatives to prescription painkillers. She is working on five major grants from the NIH and has published more than 250 peer-reviewed papers.
- Crooks, an assistant professor in the Department of Human Development Nursing Science, was recently awarded a $4 million grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities for a study to reduce STIs and HIV among Black girls by engaging their Black male caregivers. She’s also created the Black Girl Development Research Group, a group of Black women researchers and graduate students across the health sciences who meet weekly to discuss projects, publications, and career girls.