Marjorie Funk, PhD, RN, FAAN, FAHA

• Professor

Yale School of Nursing - Rm 256A
100 Church Street South
P. O. Box 9740
New Haven, CT 06536
USA

marjorie.funk@yale.edu

203.737.2346
203.785.6455 fax

About

Professor Funk has been on the faculty at the Yale School of Nursing since 1984. She received a BA in religion from Wheaton College in Massachusetts, a BSN from Cornell University - New York Hospital School of Nursing, a MSN in Medical-Surgical Nursing with a clinical specialty in cardiovascular nursing from the Yale School of Nursing, and a PhD in Chronic Disease Epidemiology from Yale University.

Her teaching responsibilities include statistics, research seminar, epidemiologic methods, and various topics in cardiac and critical care nursing. She has practiced as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Cardiac Surgery and is now a part-time staff nurse in the Coronary Care Unit at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

Professor Funk's research interests are in cardiac critical care nursing, specifically the appropriate and safe use of technology, the equitable distribution of technology, and the human-machine interface.

One investigation, led by Professor Funk, was a direct response to the elimination of nurses who watched for life-threatening heart-rhythm abnormalities in hospitalized patients from a central bank of monitors. Her study showed that potentially dangerous arrhythmias were less likely to be detected without a monitor watcher present.

Professor Funk's research has also shown that although it seems that women are less likely to have cardiac procedures, once other factors like age and other illnesses are taken into account, they are just as likely as men to have these procedures. On the other hand, black people are less likely than white people to undergo these procedures even after other factors, such as insurance coverage, are taken into account.

Although it is known that atrial fibrillation is a common occurrence after cardiac surgery, her research revealed that this arrhythmia happens frequently after discharge from the hospital and is often not accompanied by symptoms.

Her research on bioimpedance monitoring in patients with chronic heart failure was recognized with the 2003 Nursing Research Award by the Heart Failure Society of America. She is also the Co-Director of the Yale-Howard Partnership Center on Health Disparities.

Research interests

Cardiac critical care nursing, Appropriate and safe use of technology, Equitable distribution of technology, Human-machine interface

Clinical practice

Coronary Care Unit at Yale-New Haven Hospital

Selected awards and honors

Annie W. Goodrich Award for Excellence in Teaching, Presented by the Students of Yale University School of Nursing, 1990.

Hewlett-Packard - American Association of Critical-Care Nurses Researcher, 1993 - 1994.

Distinguished Alumna Award, Yale University School of Nursing, 1994.

New Investigator Award, American Heart Association Council on Cardiovascular Nursing, 1994.

Virginia Henderson Award for Outstanding Contributions to Nursing Research, Connecticut Nurses' Association, 1995.

Fellow, Council on Cardiovascular Nursing, American Heart Association, 1999.

Fellow, American Academy of Nursing, 2000.

Nursing Research Award, Heart Failure Society of America, 2003.

Inducted into the Bristol (CT) Sports Hall of Fame, 2003.

Citizenship

Former consultant for cardiac and critical care nursing; Hunan Medical College, Xiang Ya Hospital, and Second Affiliated Hospital; Changsha, Hunan Province, People's Republic of China

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