Melissa
Horning
May 2020
Melissa
Horning
University of Minnesota School of Nursing
Minneapolis
,
MN
United States

 

 

 

Dr. Horning’s research stems from her passion and experience as a public health nurse.
Dr. Horning earned her Ph.D. in Nursing from the University of Minnesota. She completed a predoctoral fellowship with the National Institutes of Nursing Research. Additionally, Dr. Horning was a predoctoral fellow at the University of Minnesota Center for Adolescent Nursing. She joined the University of Minnesota School of Nursing in 2015 as an assistant professor. In her time as a faculty member, she has developed an exceptional scholarship program concentrated on community-based health promotion.

Dr. Horning’s research stems from her passion and experience as a public health nurse. The foundation of her scholarship is a community-based participatory research methodology and addresses the determinants of health that influence health behavior, nutrition, and obesity among underserved communities. Presently, Dr. Horning’s research explores the role mobile food markets play in addressing healthy food access and reducing health disparities. The mobile market brings affordable and fresh foods and other high-quality groceries directly into neighborhoods around the twin cities metro area in order to increase their access to healthy nutrition while promoting healthy behaviors.

Most recently, Dr. Horning’s brilliant scholarship was featured in the Minnesota Nursing Magazine, KSTP news, and Kare-11 news. Dr. Horning’s scholarship excellence is illustrated by funding awards and public recognition. To support her work, Dr. Horning has received funding from the Minnesota Department of Health, Stratis Health, the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Nursing Research, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the University of Minnesota, and many other sources. Additionally, Dr. Horning has disseminated her research through publications, abstracts, presentations, and Media contributions as an expert in the field. In 2019-2020 alone, Dr. Horning submitted four manuscripts for publication and had another two articles published. In 2019, Dr. Horning was awarded the American Public Health Association (APHA) Junior Investigator Award! This award honors early-career public health nurses doing exceptional research after completing doctoral education through a blind review process.

Furthermore, The DAISY Award for scholarship in practice recognizes faculty who understand and recognize the various kinds of knowledge used in practice and helps students to understand, appreciate, and articulate the tacit knowledge in skilled nursing practice. Dr. Horning exemplifies this award as she brings her research to the classroom and clinical/practicum setting. Melissa is a research mentor for undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral students. Furthermore, she participates in professional faculty development activities such as flipping to active learning, the P3 grant writing program, and the early career teaching scholar program in order to translate her research into practical classroom lessons. She has been a guest lecturer on numerous occasions sharing her scholarship with students across the university campus. Within the school of nursing, Dr. Horning guides students to appreciate the importance of the social determinants of health as foundational to nursing practice through case studies, breakout sessions, and writing activities that are based on her research on food disparities. In fact, in a module focused on public health nursing ethics, Dr. Horning developed an interactive case analysis based on food access and food insecurity.

In the senior research course, Dr. Horning facilitates student learning by bridging the gap between theory and practice by highlighting her own scholarship program and empowering students to ask questions about issues that they are passionate about. In summary, Dr. Horning is a brilliant scholar addressing population health issues through innovative and far-reaching interventions.