Professional Background
Becky J. Christian, PhD, RN, FNAP, FAAN is Professor and PhD Program Director at the University of Kansas, School of Nursing. Dr. Christian received BSN and MSN (Family-Child Nursing) from the University of Missouri-Columbia and PhD in Nursing Science from The University of Texas at Austin.
As a nurse scientist guided by clinical expertise in pediatric nursing, Dr. Christian’s program of research is focused on children and adolescents with chronic conditions – the interplay among physiologic, functional, psychosocial, and development characteristics as children integrate chronic illness into their everyday lives; and how families adapt to and manage their child’s chronic condition and/or physical disability.
Throughout her academic nursing career, Dr. Christian has focused on helping students to make linkages between theory, research, practice, and health policy. Dr. Christian has extensive experience teaching child health nursing, theory development, research methods, and measurement, as well as mentoring students in dissertation research and evidence-based practice scholarly projects and translational research. Dr. Christian received the Texas Excellence – University Teaching Award at The University of Texas at Austin.
Dr. Christian’s philosophy of servant leadership has been demonstrated through administrative service as PhD Program Director at two Schools of Nursing, and Department Chair at two Schools of Nursing. In each of these leadership positions, Dr. Christian has provided research mentorship and coaching to students and faculty, while guiding their professional development. Dr. Christian’s professional service has been highlighted by emphasis on research mentorship providing peer review for faculty, mentoring students (PhD, DNP, MSN, BSN), and faculty in research grant proposal development and scholarship, receiving several research mentorship awards.
Dr. Christian is Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing; Distinguished Scholar and Fellow in the National Academies of Practice (interprofessional); member of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing and Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. Dr. Christian was selected as Child Health Policy Fellow (interprofessional) by American Academy of Pediatrics.
Dr. Christian serves on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Pediatric Nursing writing Research Commentary synthesizing translational research and evidence-based practice articles for each issue. Dr. Christian reviews for scholarly journals including: Nursing Research, Qualitative Health Research, Journal of Pediatric Nursing, Journal of Specialists in Pediatric Nursing, Pediatrics, Journal of Interprofessional Education and Practice, Social Work and Health Care, Sleep Health, and Journal of Translational Medicine.
