FACULTY PROFILE: School of Nursing welcomes award-winning quality/safety expert Roberta Christopher

The Brooks Rehabilitation College of Healthcare Sciences welcomes Assistant Professor Roberta Christopher to the School of Nursing. She is the former Director of Nursing Research & Magnet at UF Health Jacksonville and has been a nurse for more than 18 years. She received both her BSN and MSN from the University of North Florida. She is currently working on her Doctorate of Education (Ed.D.) from University of Phoenix (UOP) with an emphasis on curriculum and instruction. Her dissertation research focus is presenteeism and the relationship with nurse safety, patient safety, and nursing quality. Roberta is an ANCC board certified nurse executive. She is also board certified as a healthcare technology specialist clinician/practitioner consultant through the American Health Information Management Association.

Roberta recently received an award from the Lambda Rho Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau for excellence in scholarship. Roberta also received the coveted Daisy Award for outstanding faculty from Chamberlain School of Nursing in 2015. In 2011, Roberta received the Florida Organization of Nurse Executive research award. She also received the Northeast Florida Great 100 Nurses Award and the Florida Nurses Association Great 100 Nurses Award in 2009 for Research in Nursing.

Roberta has been published in the Journal of Nursing Administration, Cochrane Nursing Care Field, Nursing Economics, International Journal Review, and Resuscitation. She is a member of the Cochrane Nursing Care Field, Sigma Theta Tau, the American Organization of Nurse Executives, and the American Nurses Association.

Prof. Christopher is the co-investigator of a funded grant from the Florida Blue Foundation titled: A Statewide Initiative Integrating Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) Through Academic/Clinical Partnerships to Improve Health Outcomes. The goal of the grant is to help develop training modules to help nurses improve the quality and safety of the healthcare systems in which they work. Prof. Christopher, along with Dr. Teri Chenot, are the founding members of the Florida QSEN Center; it is the only approved and endorsed QSEN Center in the State of Florida and the first in the country besides the QSEN Institute at Case Western Reserve University. Visit: http://qsen.org/faculty-resources/practice/state-qsen-initiatives/florida-2/ to learn more.