Online MSN: Nursing Informatics

Health Promotion and Population Health

Methods for Research and Evidence Based Practice

Organizational Theory: Application to Health Services Management

Cheryl A. Fisher, EdD, MSN, RN 
Associate Professor and Interim Program Director

Cheryl A. Fisher, EdD, MSN, RN, has a research background focused on teaching with technology, translating evidence into health care practices for the bedside nurse and evaluating the integration of technology into practice. Dr. Fisher developed new programs for a clinical setting to meet identified learning needs using computer-based training and competency validation. While working at the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Fisher worked to design, develop, implement, and evaluate innovative technologies in conjunction with the National Library of Medicine to integrate a personalized decision support system into the electronic medical record to enhance patient care. Dr. Fisher has published numerous peer-reviewed journal articles looking at student learning online and co-authored, “Developing Online Courses in Nursing Education”, now in its fourth edition. Dr. Fisher has also published Training Essentials for Implementing Healthcare IT, in Health Care Information Technology. Dr. Fisher has taught nursing informatics in undergraduate and graduate levels for 10 years and has mentored many graduate students in evidence-based practice projects using technology in the clinical setting.

Arpad Kelemen, PhD 
Professor

Arpad Kelemen, PhD, has expertise in biomedical informatics; EHR and healthcare database development, optimization, and evaluation; healthcare software and game development; human-computer interaction; intelligent patient care technologies with artificial intelligence; and data mining of large healthcare data. Dr. Kelemen has published over 70 peer reviewed papers and three books. He was PI on a HRSA grant, "Nursing informatics program focused on diversity and the underserved". In addition, he has received funding from NSF, NIH, NYSTAR, and the US NAVY. He developed a large-scale intelligent software agent for human-like decision making for the job assignment problem. He develops models, algorithms, and intelligent systems for large-scale biomedical data, including healthcare, genomic, and clinical data. He currently leads development of educational and patient-centered online healthcare games.

Eun-Shim Nahm, PhD, RN, FAAN, FGSA 
Professor and Associate Dean for the PhD Program

Eun-Shim Nahm, PhD, RN, FAAN, FGSA, conducts research that focuses on the use of digital heath interventions to engage patients and their caregivers, and community-dwelling older adults in their care and to promote the management of chronic conditions. She is a recipient of multiple grant awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Most recently, she completed an R21 study, “A Theory-Based Patient Portal eLearning Program for Older Adults with Chronic Illnesses” (07/2016–06/2019), funded by the AHRQ. Currently, Dr. Nahm is leading online cancer survivorship studies in collaboration with the clinicians at the University of Maryland Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center (UMNurisng Grant) and a 5-year implementation grant project, “Care Coordination Education-to-Practice Scale-Up Implementation” (07/2020-06/2025), funded by the Nurse Support Program II. She has published more than 75 peer-reviewed journal articles and five book chapters in the field. Dr. Nahm teaches graduate-level nursing informatics courses and doctoral-level research courses. She has mentored numerous graduate and doctoral students, as well as junior faculty members. 

Ernest Opoku-Agyemang, PhD, MA, RN 
Assistant Professor

Ernest Opoku-Agyemang, PhD, MA, RN, has expertise in supporting and implementing information systems in healthcare, finance, e-business and e-commerce. Dr. Opoku had served as a Senior Systems Test Engineer on the Community Health Automated Medicaid Processing System (CHAMPS) Medicare Management Information System for the State of Michigan. Prior to that, he worked in the financial industry as a consultant on the Order Audit Trail System (OATS) for the NASDAQ stock market. Dr. Opoku is the recipient of the prestigious British Drummond Wolff award for his MA degree at University of Hull (UK). He was a recipient of the MHEC Nursing Educator Doctoral Grants for Practice and Dissertation Research (NEDG) and the New Nursing Faculty Scholarship. Areas of interest include electronic health records and barcoded computerized medication administration. He received his PhD from the UMSON with a research focus on using mobile applications in managing chronic diseases. 

Barbara Van de Castle, DNP, APRN-CNS, OCN, RN-BC 
Assistant Professor

Barb Van de Castle, DNP, APRN-CNS, OCN, RN-BC, is a board-certified informatics nurse specialist and a doctorally prepared oncology-certified nurse educator. Her background includes supporting oncology clinicians in the use of EHRs to improve workflow and patient outcomes, taught Epic’s Beacon program as a Credentialed Trainer. . Dr. Van de Castle’s work focuses on innovation, and focuses on Evidence Based Practice in Informatics . She is actively engaged in the local chapter of the Oncology Nursing Society and in 2017 was awarded the Mary Nowotny Excellence in Cancer Nursing Education Award Recipient at the 2017 ONS National Congress. She is a member of ANA, ANIA and Sonsiel. She is also the Co-Chair of our Summer Institute of Nursing Informatics (SINI).

Materials

Submission Guidelines

Start your application now via the Admissions Dashboard.

The Admissions Dashboard is where you will:

• submit your online application and fee
• submit/request any supplemental documents
• check your application status.

• The specific specialty area you like to pursue and your motivation for pursuing a master’s degree in nursing in this specialty.
• The population you would like to service or the area of health care in which you would like to work after graduation.
• The qualities you feel are essential to the advanced nursing profession that you bring with you.
• What are your research interests or your practice issues in this specialty area?

Official transcripts. An official transcript from every institution previously attended or currently attending must be submitted in a sealed envelope, as prepared by the sending institution. 

Returning students are not required to submit UMSON transcripts; we will upload a copy of your UMSON transcript to your application.

Please note that UMSON is listed two ways in the Academics area. Please make sure you choose one of the following:

• Maryland Baltimore, Univ of
• UMB- School of Nursing

Have each institution submit electronically to admissions.nursing@umaryland.edu.