Sandra Cadena, PhD, ARNP, CS, CNE, assistant professor and director of the Center for Global Health at the USF College of Nursing, has been selected to receive the 2011 Hispanic Pathways Award in the non-tenured faculty category for her international work involving Latin America and will be honored at the annual USF Hispanic Heritage Kickoff reception October 6, 2011.

In her nomination letter to the USF Latin Community Advisory Committee, associate dean for Research and Innovation, Cindy L. Munro, PhD, RN, ANP-C, FAAN, noted Dr. Cadena’s efforts as founding director of the Center for Global Health at the College , a multifaceted role including administration, clinical research, consultation and education.

“Dr. Cadena has provided cultural immersion opportunities for more than 240 nursing students to increase their cultural sensitivity and awareness of people from Hispanic cultures and communities, said Dr. Munro. “She has had the privilege to develop ongoing international relationships leading to wonderful insights that facilitate and support future research and educational experiences for her, students and other nurse educators in Hispanic countries.”

Dr. Cadena works closely with nurse educators in Panama and Colombia and continues to facilitate projects as an affiliating member with the World Health Organization Nursing Collaborating Center at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. She is a lecturer at the Tampa Veterans Administration Medical Center, Universidad El Bosque, Bogota, Colombia, and  Universidad Norte Autonoma Bucaramanga, in Bucaramanga, Colombia, South America, Universidad de Latina in Panama City, Panama as well as faculty at the Universidad de Panama, Panama City, Panama and Universidad Autonoma de Chiriqui (UNACHI), Panama, Central America. Dr. Cadena is also a member of the Transcultural Nursing Society and a global liaison for the International Nursing Alliance for the National League of Nursing (NLN) for Panama and Colombia.

In her letter to Dr. Cadena notifying her of her selection to receive the award, Maritza Rovira Forino, chair of the USF Latin Community Advisory Committee, noted that judges were very impressed with her international Fulbright work in Colombia and Panama and found commendable her local work in bringing greater cultural senitivity about Hispanics to nursing students.

“You are excelling in addressing health care disparities and expanding global opportunities for the College of Nursing,” she wrote.

As a current Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Cadena participated in a Senior Scholar placement in Colombia, South America, in 2009 and will remain on the Fulbright roster until 2012. Dr. Cadena’s research on cultural competency, mental health issues in Hispanic communities, and domestic violence among indigenous populations in Central America has been funded by the Florida Nurses’ Foundation, the State of Florida, the University of South Florida, and the Veterans Administration and has resulted in presentations at international and national conferences, including Brazil, Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador.

Dr. Cadena (bottom left) during a USF College of Nursing Community Health International Clinical Experience in Panama.

The Hispanic Pathways awards were created in 2004 by the USF Latin Community Advisory Committee to recognize tenured and non-tenured faculty for outstanding research and/or outreach that creates pathways to the betterment of the lives of Latinos in our community, state or nation.

Story by Ashlea Hudak, USF College of Nursing, top photo by Eric Younghans, USF Health Office of Communications.