Rate My Professor Janna Stephens

Janna Stephens, PhD, RN, FAHA, is an Associate Professor and Department Head of the Department of Population Health Nursing Science at the University of Illinois Chicago College of Nursing. Appointed Department Head in September 2023, she holds the title of Nursing Collegiate Professor, the fourth recipient honored at a 2024 investiture ceremony for excellence in research, scholarship, and teaching, funded by philanthropic gifts. Previously, Stephens served on the faculty at The Ohio State University, where she was selected for the Faculty Advancement, Mentoring & Engagement (FAME) program and an Innovation Fellowship hosted by the Center for Healthcare Innovation Leadership, featuring a year-long innovation project chosen from a national pool of practitioners.

Her research specializes in cardiovascular disease prevention in underserved populations, serving as principal investigator on an NIH-funded grant to reduce cardiovascular risk factors in Black young adults. Stephens was elected a Fellow of the American Heart Association (FAHA) in 2025 for her scientific accomplishments, professional contributions, volunteer leadership, and service to the AHA mission. In 2024, she joined the seventh cohort of Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research Ambassadors, selected nationally to advocate for nursing research funding by educating congressional leaders on high-impact nursing science interventions that improve quality of life. As Department Head, she leads scholarship on multilevel determinants of health, translating findings to benefit individuals, families, communities, organizations, and populations. Department faculty research includes social determinants of obesity in urban populations, health disparities in sexual-minority groups, smoking cessation in LGBT populations, cancer survivor symptoms, children's chronic conditions like asthma in ethnic minorities, new care delivery models, technology for care coordination, public health nursing practices, EHR data analysis, clinical decision support tools, and interprofessional chronic care management.