Rate My Professor Lisa eelan-Fancher

Lisa Heelan-Fancher is an Associate Professor, PhD, FNP-BC, ANP-BC, CNE, in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She earned her PhD from Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey; Post-Master's Certificate in Nursing Education from the College of Mount St. Vincent in Riverdale, New York; Post-Master's Certificate as a Family Nurse Practitioner from Columbia University in New York; MSN as an Adult Nurse Practitioner from Columbia University; and BSN in Nursing from William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey. A board-certified family and adult nurse practitioner, Dr. Heelan-Fancher's program of research focuses on improving childbirth outcomes through interdisciplinary collaborations. Her efforts target decreasing unnecessary cesarean deliveries, advancing birth equity, and investigating the impact of climate change and environmental stressors on maternal and infant health outcomes. She employs mixed-methods approaches and examines social determinants of health in maternal and infant contexts.

Dr. Heelan-Fancher has been recognized with the American Nurses Association 2020 Excellence in Nursing Research award and the 2018 Pearl Rosendahl Teaching Excellence award. Her scholarly contributions include numerous peer-reviewed publications, such as Heelan-Fancher, L., & Nsiah-Jefferson, L. (2024). Advancing climate justice to achieve birth equity: An intersectionality-based policy approach, in Climate justice and public health; Heelan-Fancher, L., et al. (2024). Nulliparous women’s expectations and experiences of early labor, Maternal Child Nursing; Zhang, Y., et al. (2023). Health disparities in the use of primary cesarean delivery among Asian American women, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health; Nguyen, H., & Heelan-Fancher, L. (2022). Female relatives as lay doulas and birth outcomes, Journal of Perinatal Education; Heelan-Fancher, L., & Edmonds, J. (2021). Intrapartum nurses’ beliefs regarding birth, birth practices, and labor support, Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, and Neonatal Nursing; Heelan-Fancher, L., et al. (2019). Impact of continuous electronic fetal monitoring on birth outcomes in low-risk pregnancies, Birth; and Heelan-Fancher, L. (2016). Patient advocacy in childbirth, Nursing Science Quarterly. She teaches evidence-based practice and research, philosophy of nursing science, nurse educator roles in academic settings, maternity and women’s health, and ethics and health policy.