KINGSTON, R.I. — April 3, 2024 — Join the University of Rhode Island College of Nursing for the latest installment of the College’s Spring Distinguished Lecture series. Dr. Susan Loeb, nursing professor at Pennsylvania State University’s Ross & Carol Nese College of Nursing, will deliver the address: “Enhancing Care of Older Adults in Prison: Research and Development of Just Care.“
The lecture, scheduled for Wednesday, May 1 at 5 p.m., will be presented in-person at the Rhode Island Nursing Education Center, 350 Eddy St., Providence. A reception in the third-floor River Lounge will precede the lecture at 4 p.m., giving attendees the chance to meet with Loeb.
Loeb is an expert in end-of-life care and in the health of prison inmates. She had taught a wide array of nursing courses as an undergraduate faculty member at Penn State and Concordia University in Mequon, Wisconsin, and later as graduate faculty at the University of Delaware. She has been a tenured professor at Penn State since 2004, and is the director of the college’s Ph.D. program.
Loeb’s research focuses on the health needs of older prison inmates with chronic health conditions, extending through their end of life. Older inmates are at even greater risk than their peers as they struggle with such issues as the restrictive environment, bunk bed dorms, and inconsistent temperatures while simultaneously dealing with ailments common to older adults. Loeb’s expertise in multiple methodological approaches is applied to a series of studies, including creating a toolkit for training prison staff in strategies to enhance geriatric care. She has conducted multiple studies funded by the National Institutes of Health, specifically the National Institute on Aging and the National Institute of Nursing Research.
The URI College of Nursing hosts its Distinguished Lecture Series each semester. Past lectures have been delivered by famed founder of the global health initiative, Partners in Health, Dr. Paul Farmer; former American Nurses Association President Ernest Grant; Director of the National Institute of Nursing Research Shannon Zenk; and former director of the Yale University School of Nursing Center for Biobehavioral Health Research Nancy Redeker, among others.