Prof helps launch grant for psych-mental health NPs
UIC Nursing prof Cynthia Handrup is chairing the review committee for the Alkermes Pathways APN Research Awards™
About the awards program
UIC Nursing professor Cynthia Handrup is chairing the review committee for a first-of its-kind awards program to support research conducted by advanced practice nurses on serious mental illness, including schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder.
The program is sponsored by Alkermes, a global biopharmaceutical company that offers products for the treatment of alcohol dependence, opioid dependence, schizophrenia, bipolar I disorder and narcolepsy.
The competitive grant program, called Alkermes Pathways APN Research Awards,™ is intended to support licensed psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners who are actively engaged in clinical, academic and/or community health center settings. Four $10,000 grants will be awarded. The application is open from March 16 to June 1.
“This program creates a meaningful opportunity for nurse practitioners to advance research questions grounded in clinical reality,” said Handrup, DNP, PMHCNS-BC, FAAN, who is the director of the UIC Nursing Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program. “I’m honored to work with Alkermes and the review committee to help identify projects with the potential to strengthen evidence and improve patient care.”
Genesis of the grant
This is the first grant program sponsored by a pharmaceutical company to focus on psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners, says Handrup. UIC Nursing clinical professor Julie Carbray, PhD, PMHCNS-BC, is also on the review panel with Handrup.
Handrup says the idea for the grant began when she spoke with an Alkermes rep at a conference. At that time, the only research grant available for nurses from a pharmaceutical company was sponsored by Johnson & Johnson. Handrup recognized the potential for a grant targeted at practitioners engaged in evidence-based practice with the seriously mentally-ill population, which is “a population that doesn’t get a lot of attention,” she says.
Craig Hopkinson, chief medical officer and executive vice president of research and development at Alkermes, said the launch of this program represents an evolution of the Alkermes research awards program, which has been in place for eight years to support early-career investigators.
“Psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners bring deep, real‑world insight from the front lines of care,” he said, adding that, “their unique perspectives can further inform clinical practice and deepen understanding of serious mental illness.”