Heather L. Tubbs Cooley, PhD, RN, FAAN

Heather Tubbs Cooley, PhD, RN, FAAN, is a principal investigator in the Center for Perinatal Research at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and an associate professor in the Martha S. Pitzer Center for Women, Children, and Youth at the Ohio State University College of Nursing.

A pediatric nurse inpatient and private duty nurse by background, Dr. Tubbs Cooley conducts innovative health services research on outcomes of nursing services delivered to infants and children. Her research contributions include methodological advancements in the measurement and analysis of nurse workload, discovery of effects of subjective nurse workload on missed nursing care in NICUs, exploration of systems factors affecting NICU nurses’ adherence to safety guidelines, examination of effects of nurse staffing ratios on pediatric readmission, and evaluation of post-discharge nurse home visits on healthcare reutilization after routine pediatric discharge. These projects have been supported by the NIH, AHRQ, PCORI, and foundation awards with results disseminated in high impact multidisciplinary journals including BMJ Quality & Safety, JAMA Pediatrics, and Pediatrics.