Beverly Lunsford , PhD, RN

Associate Research Professor

Education

Dr. Lunsford earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Marymount College in Salina, Kan., in 1974. She completed her master’s in at the University of Kansas, and earned her Ph.D. from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, in 1994.

Professional & Research Interests

A member of Sigma Theta Tau and the American Nurses Association, Dr. Lunsford is associate director of The George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health (GWish), the nurse coordinator for the End-of-Life Nursing Program, and a research faculty member in the Department of Nursing Education. Dr. Lunsford has extensive experience in nursing education, program development, clinical nursing, nursing research, and grant writing.

Dr. Lunsford developed health ministries at the Kansas City Rescue Mission and The Adolescent Development and Health Program at Community of Hope Health Services in the inner city of Washington, DC, and has served in a variety of capacities as a clinician and administrator of services for underserved and homeless individuals. In all of these endeavors, her focus of health care has been on meeting the biopsychosocial and spiritual needs of each individual. Dr. Lunsford is currently co-PI of a Health Resource Service Administration grant, “Improving the Knowledge, Skills, and Leadership of RNs in Geriatric Care Utilizing Rapid Cycle Quality Improvement,” as well as guiding research projects at GWish that integrate spirituality and health into medical school curricula and into the practice of other health-care professionals.

Dr. Lunsford co-authored a chapter on mental-health needs of homeless individuals and families, and has published several articles on related topics. Dr. Lunsford has worked with major organizations seeking to improve palliative and end-of-life care, including the Washington, DC, Area Geriatric Education Center Consortium, Americans for Better Care of the Dying, and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.

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