Joan Arnold [ PhD, RN ]

Joan Arnold, PhD, RN joined the Board of Nurses Educational Funds, Inc. in 2002. She has served as President, Vice President, and Treasurer over the years of her service to NEF. In addition, Dr. Arnold has been a member of several NEF committees, including Executive, Development, Criteria and Eligibility, Web and Social Media, and Finance/Investment.

Dr. Arnold was an academic for over 35 years holding faculty positions with Adelphi University, The College of New Rochelle, and Hunter College. Her teaching foci included Community/Public Health Nursing, Nursing Administration, Health Promotion, Team Building, and courses on Grief and Loss. In 2014, Dr. Arnold retired from her position as Professor with the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing, Hunter College, CUNY. In addition to her role as a faculty member, Dr. Arnold was Senior Director/Educator with the Corporate Nursing Office of New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation. She also served as the Program Coordinator for the New York City Information and Counseling Program for Sudden Infant Death.

As a regular consultant to the NYCSID Office over more than two decades, Dr. Arnold provided bereavement support to families after an infant death, made home visits to bereaved families, created supportive bereavement literature, and conducted workshops on risk reduction for SIDS/infant mortality, parental grief, and the caregiver’s role in supporting families. Dr. Arnold served as the the Chairperson of the Research Committee of the Association of SIDS and Infant Mortality Programs (ASIP) and has co-authored many publications on infant death and family grief for ASIP and the USDHHS, HRSA, Maternal Child Health Bureau. She also has co-authored several books, including: A Child Dies: A Portrait of Family Grief, Health Promotion in Practice, Health Promotion Handbook and Community Health Nursing: An Alliance for Health. A publication in Archives of Psychiatric Nursing describes research she conducted with Penelope Buschman Gemma (Columbia University School of Nursing) and Linda F. Cushman (Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health) entitled, “Exploring Parental Grief: Combining Quantitative and Qualitative Measures” and with Penelope Buschman Gemma “The Continuing Process of Parental Grief” in Death Studies.

Dr. Arnold was a longstanding member of the Board of the Columbia University-Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing Alumni Association, Inc. (CUPHSONAA) and co-chairperson of their Distinguished Alumni Awards Committee which recognizes outstanding alumnae/i each year. She currently serves on the Annual Fund Committee of the Columbia University School of Nursing.

Research efforts include a study on Predictors of Retention for Behavioral Health Nurses with Penelope Buschman and Hussein Tahan (New York-Presbyterian) and Sibling Grief with Penelope Buschman. The study on sibling grief was made possible through the alumni associations (CUPHSONAA and CUSONAA) of Columbia University School of Nursing and the faculty and staff of the School.