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TriService Nursing welcomes new leadership

Air Force Lt. Col. Marla De Jong, Ph. D., replaced outgoing Army LTC Deborah Kenny, Ph.D., as executive director of the TriService Nursing Research Program (TSNRP) earlier this fall.

Kenny is slated to retire from the Army Nurse Corps at the end of the year and is expected to start as the associate dean of research at the Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

De Jong carries the torch of the TSNRP with her own extensive nursing science and practice background, including two self-conducted TSRNP-funded studies.

"Lieutenant Colonel Kenny left behind a wonderful program with a solid foundation and developing legacy," said De Jong, "She encouraged me to continue to ensure the program's growth and maturity as unprecedented possibilities for expansion in military nursing research exists."

De Jong received her Ph. D. in Nursing from the University of Kentucky in 2005 and her previous assignment was as the Air Force program manager for DoD Blast Injury Research Program Coordinating Office at Ft. Detrick, Md.

The TSNRP's mission is to produce military nursing science and research, and translate them into solid nursing practices.

"For a while, military nurses had pending research questions but no primary mechanism for funding the necessary studies," said De Jong.

Hence, TSNRP exists primarily to provide grant funding and oversight for military unique research within the scope of nursing science.

"As opportunities to foster an increasingly collaborative approach to multi-field and multi-disciplinary research with USU and other academic agencies develop, we will encourage our community to direct research in areas that strive to maintain strong science across such boundaries and better patient care," said De Jong.