gretchen Lawhon, PhD, RN, FAAN

Dr. gretchen Lawhon is a clinical nurse scientist who has worked in the arena of newborn intensive care for over 40 years and has over 45 years experience as a nurse.  Currently she is the Clinical Nurse Scientist with Newborn special care associates, pc at Abington Jefferson Health and a Master NIDCAP Trainer with West Coast NIDCAP and APIB Center at University of California San Francisco School of Medicine.She was a cofounder of the NIDCAP program and co-investigator in several of the early research studies supporting an individualized developmentally supportive approach to care of infants and families in the newborn intensive care unit (Effects of Early Behavioral and Environmental Modification to Infants with Severe Respiratory Distress, 1983-1984; Deep Tendon Reflexes in Premature Infants, 1984-1985; and NIHR/NIDCAP Behavioral Intervention Study, 1985-1987).  Dr. Lawhon’s own dissertation was Facilitation of Parenting Within the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NCNR/NCCIP, 1992-1994) at the University of Washington School of Nursing.  Dr. Lawhon has worked as the Neonatal Clinical Nurse Specialist for the NICU Transition and NICU Follow-Through Projects (1990-1995), federally funded from U.S. Dept. Education through the University of Washington Child Development and Mental Retardation Center. She has remained involved in early intervention outreach (U.S. Dept Ed.  Earliest Intervention, Setting the Stage for Success, Outreach Project for Young Children with Disabilities, 1995 – 1998) and served as Co-Chair, Lucas County Ohio Early Intervention Collaborative Group (1999-2000) and Vice-president and Board of Directors member of the Collaborative Network of Lucas County, Ohio Inc.  Dr. Lawhon has been co-investigator of the NINR funded Stability of Infant Responses to Painful Procedures study (1998-2002).  She has extensive experience as a clinical nurse scientist and has authored numerous articles in her areas of expertise.