Jeanne Alhusen, PhD, CRNP, RN, FAAN—associate dean for research, professor of nursing, and an award-winning scholar and mentor—researches ways to improve maternal mental health and, consequently, early childhood outcomes, particularly for families living in poverty. In 2021, she earned a $1.9M NICHD grant to study the experiences that women with disabilities have related to reproductive care, violence, and psychosocial stress, work that was informed by a two-year NIH-funded pilot study and is PI on a HRSA grant examining infant outcomes in mothers experiencing perinatal intimate partner violence.

BOOKS SHE LOVED AS A CHILD

"My mom instilled a deep love of reading at an early age. I remember the bookmobile stopping outside our house during the summer and I’d spend hours on it, searching for the perfect books. I loved to read almost anything except science fiction, and that’s still the case today. I read all of the Nancy Drew, Little House on the Prairie, the Boxcar Children, and Encyclopedia Brown series. I am a huge animal lover, and probably my all-time favorite books when I was in fifth or sixth grade were Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls, and Old Yeller by Fred Gipson. I’m not sure how many times I read Where the Red Fern Grows, but I still cried every time. My most memorable birthday gift was on my 13th birthday when my dad took me to pick out a beagle puppy, who lived for 18 years. She was a lot like Little Ann!"

WHAT SHE READ WITH HER OWN KIDS

"Our kids were similar to me in that I could read a book over and over to them and they wouldn’t tire of it. Because they are pretty close in age, we’d let them each pick a book to read before bedtime. I’ve probably memorized Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, by Mo Willems, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, by Laura Numeroff, Judith Viorst’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, and Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar. As they got older, they enjoyed a lot of the same series that I’d read as a child."

I’m not sure how many times I read Where the Red Fern Grows, but I still cried every time. My most memorable birthday gift was on my 13th birthday when my dad took me to pick out a beagle puppy, who lived for 18 years. She was a lot like Little Ann!

BOOKS SHE LIKES TO GIVE NURSES

"I’ve given several students books by Atul Gawande, and his Being Mortal is probably one of my favorites. I think he does a great job of showing us, as healthcare professionals, how to have really hard conversations. In a class I previously taught, I had students read The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collison of Two Cultures. I have since given that book to several students and colleagues as I think Anne Fadiman does an incredible job capturing cultural differences, the social construction of illness, and, most importantly, empathy."

BOOKS SHE ROUTINELY ASSIGNS HER STUDENTS

"Unfortunately, right now I am teaching mostly research-related courses, such as Grant Writing, so there aren’t necessarily exciting or thought provoking works to assign students. However, I love talking with my students about books they should read for fun, based on their research interests that aren’t for research-based articles, and they often have great recommendations for me, as well.

"A few that we’ve recently talked about in class include Beth Macy’s Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America, When We Walk By, by Donald Byrnes and Kevin Adler, which is focused on homelessness in the United States, and Matthew Desmond’s Poverty, By America, which a student recommended to me during a discussion about our roles in perpetuating health inequities."

BEST PLACE TO READ

"My favorite spot to read is on any beach, before 10 a.m. or after 5 p.m., but because that doesn’t happen nearly as much as I’d like, I’d probably say in my family room, which has great light, chunky blankets, and, typically, a snoring dog."