Photo of Franck, Gwyneth Rhiannon

Gwyneth Rhiannon Franck, PhD, RN, MPH

Clinical Associate Professor

Associate Director, Global Health Leadership Office

Department of Population Health Nursing Science

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

Contact

Building & Room:

NURS 937

Address:

845 S. Damen Ave., MC 802, Chicago, IL 60612

About

Dr. Gwyneth Franck is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Illinois College of Nursing. She is an Associate Director of the Global Health Leadership Office (GHLO), and the Assistant Director of the Midwest Nursing History Research Center  (MNHRC) and in the College of Nursing. Her past historical research investigates the role and significance of military nurses during World War I and II, how they were trained, and how they responded to disasters such as the 1918 flu pandemic, or the bombing during Pearl Harbor. She is currently the PI for Teaching Care, a federally funded project to bring the history of Black nursing into not only nursing schools, but also middle and high schools in the Chicago area. As an Associate Director of GHLO, Dr. Franck has developed new study abroad opportunities for nursing students, and mentors other faculty to develop additional offerings for students. She also has a continuing area of research around community disaster preparedness in the West Indies.

Dr. Franck has taught in the BSN, RN-BSN, MSN and DNP program, focusing on topics including social determinants of health, global health, ethics, nursing history, and research methods. Her clinical areas of expertise are public health, disaster nursing, rural health disparities, and emergency nursing.

Selected Grants

National Archives and Records Administration, Teaching Care: Building a history curricular library of Chicago’s Black nurses, PI

Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, Broadening Narratives: Unearthing and Celebrating Black Nurses in Chicago, Co - PI

University of Illinois Presidential Initiative: Expanding the Impact of the Arts and the Humanities, Remembering Black Life in Color: Care, Memory, Community and COVID-19, Co - PI

Emergency Nurses Association Foundation, 50 Years of Advocacy and Advancement, PI

Pritzker Military Museum Foundation, The Army School of Nursing in World War I and U.S. Base Hospitals of WWI: The Chicago Story, PI

University of Virginia Barbara Brodie Nursing History Fellowship, Service and Training: The Army School of Nursing in World War I, PI

Selected Publications

Milbrath G., and Snyder, A. (2021). The Emergency Nurses Association: 50 years of advocacy and advancement. Journal of Emergency Nursing. (In press). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jen.2020.11.007

Drzewiecki, D., ^Wavering, H., Milbrath, G., Freeman, V., Lin, J. (2020) The association between educational attainment and resilience to natural hazard-induced disasters in the West Indies: St. Kitts & Nevis. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 47(101637). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2020.101637.

Milbrath, G. (2020). The U.S. Army School of Nursing in the 1918 influenza epidemic: Cooperation and collaboration at Camp Grant, Illinois. Health Emergency and Disaster Nursing, 7(1) 32-35. https://doi.org/10.24298/hedn.2019-SP02.

Milbrath, G. (2019). A new approach to preparing nurses for war: The Army School of Nursing. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 24(3). http://doi.org/10.3912/OJIN.Vol24No03Man03

Milbrath, G., Snyder, A., Martin, M. (2019). Interdisciplinary disaster preparedness: Study abroad in Saint Kitts and Nevis. Journal of Health Emergency and Disaster Nursing. Advance online publication. http://doi.org/10.24298/hedn.2018-0008

Liehr, P., Sopcheck, J., Milbrath, G. (2016). Remembering Pearl Harbor at 75 years. The American Journal of Nursing116(12), 54-57. http://doi.org/10.1097/01.NAJ.0000508670.41586.11

Milbrath, G. (2016). Grace under fire: The Army nurses of Pearl Harbor, 1941. US Army Medical Department Journal, December 2016: 112-117.

Peterson, N. E., Moss, K. O., Milbrath, G., Von Gaudecker, J. R., Park, E., & Chung, M. (2015). Qualitative analysis of student perceptions of bachelor of science-to-doctor of philosophy in nursing programs. Journal of Nursing Education, 54(10), 542-549. http://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20150916-01

Milbrath, G. & DeGuzman, P. B. (2015). Neighborhood: a conceptual analysis. Public Health Nursing32(4), 349-358. http://doi.org/10.1111/phn.12197

Snyder, A. & Milbrath, G. (2013). Description of healthcare needs at an episodic clinic in rural southwest Virginia. Rural and Remote Health13(2557), 1-10.

Notable Honors

2018, 40 Under 40 Emerging Nurse Leaders Award, Illinois Nurses’ Foundation

Education

Doctorate of Philosophy, Nursing
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 2017
Dissertation: The nurses of Pearl Harbor, December 1941

Master of Science in Nursing, Public Health Nursing Leadership
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 2014
Clinical Focus: Disaster Nursing and Emergency Preparedness

Master of Science in Public Health, Health Policy, Law, and Administration
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 2014
Thesis: Selecting an early child development tool in rural Limpopo, South Africa

Bachelor of Science in Nursing
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 2010

Bachelor of Science, Biomedical Engineering
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 2009