Nursing Faculty and Staff

Kathleen Ash is interested in parent child nursing and development of orientation programs for new nurses in the hospital setting.  Her clinical experience is in obstetrics, normal newborn and special care nursery, post anesthesia care and operating room circulator.  She is an instructor of the Neonatal Resuscitation Program for health care professionals to improve the safety and outcomes of newborns in the delivery room.

Dr. Best’s clinical experience and interests include all areas of women’s health including maternal/fetal care, neonatal intensive care, and women’s health issues including infertility family support. Her research areas of interest include maternal positioning effects on the second stage of labor; innovative educational methods to improve retention of electronic medical record training and subsequent documentation.

Geneen has worked in Admissions with freshmen, transfers, and international students. She serves as liaison between Enrollment Management, the Office of Academic Affairs, Financial Aid, Marketing and Communications, and Student Affairs. Prior to her career in higher education, she worked in human services for many years.

Dr. Davis has been a registered nurse of nearly 40 years; and, is still actively practicing as community health nurse. Her research has recently been accepted for publication in Nurse Educator, September 2020. She continues researching application of a medication safety science curriculum with senior nursing students at all levels.

Akhtar Ebrahimi Ghassemi holds a Ph.D. in Education from University of Rochester, with a concentration on Counselor Education and Development. She has experience in clinical supervision and advanced therapies in individual and group counseling. Her strong history of research and experience in Mental Health Counseling and Psychiatric Nursing is reflected in her academic work at Adelphi University, Nazareth College, and University of Rochester. Her main program of research interest is identified in two areas: a) “self-regulation of learning, ego identity, and college student success”; b) “The effects of ego-identity status, career decision-making autonomy, and parents’ education ego-identity on college students’ career decision making.”

Dr. Grust’s research and special interests include academic incivility, improving faculty and student retention, innovative teaching methodologies, legal/ethical issues in education and practice, and in transforming nursing education to support professional formation. She is certified as a legal nurse consultant since 2000; areas of practice include nursing malpractice, licensure issues, elder abuse, long-term care issues, and nursing education on a part time basis. Her clinical experience includes critical care, obstetrics, orthopedics, long-term care, outpatient clinics, and medical-surgical practice areas. She served as a member of the New York State Health Facilities Association, NYS Governor’s Advisory Committee on Aging, Catherine Welsh Center for Nursing Research Scholarship and Awards Committee, and M. I. Bassett Hospital’s Research Evening Planning Committee.

Margaret Kiss is a masters level RN who incorporates theory and concepts of nursing science and their applications along with the management of health care. Her work includes: program research management, health economics, health policy, ethics, diversity, and the science of education. She focuses on communication and how it related to missed care. She developed an evidenced based curriculum to teach frontline nurses about Shared Governance. Her clinical experience is in all aspects of acute and chronic care; including critical care, and oncology.

Lorena Marra’s special interests include pediatric health care, nursing informatics, and innovative teaching. Her clinical experience includes outpatient pediatrics, inpatient pediatrics, informatics, and hospital supervisor for all practice areas. She served as a member of the Bassett Healthcare Nursing Practice Committee as well as being the committee chair. She currently serves as a member of the Hartwick College Nursing Academic Standing Committee and the Personnel Committee.

Dr. Zhang’s research examines geriatric syndromes in the long-term care and community settings, with a special focus on urinary incontinence (and urinary tract infection). As a part of several funded projects, including projects examining antibiotic prophylaxis of UI in long-term care, and the development of devices to improve the health of geriatric patients, Dr. Zhang is very involved with interdisciplinary research. Finally, the development of nursing theory is also of interest. Her clinical practice experience includes long-term care (as a minimum dataset coordinator), medical/ surgical, and inpatient oncology.