Teresa Kelechi RN, PhD, FAAN

Biography

Dr. Teresa J. Kelechi, PhD, RN, FAAN, is the David and Margaret Clare Endowed Chair and the Associate Dean for Research. She received her BSN from Kent State University, MSN in Gerontological Nursing from Case Western Reserve University, and PhD from the University of South Carolina. She is a certified wound care nurse and gerontological clinical nurse specialist. Her work as a nurse scientist focuses on symptom and self-management around chronic conditions, specifically venous disease, and the development of interventions for venous leg ulcer prevention. She is currently studying the influence of social determinants of health such as social isolation on gene expression for wound healing and use of artificial intelligence methods in the diagnosis of inflammation in non-healing chronic wounds. Her expertise in aging focuses on stress management interventions for caregivers of persons living with dementia residing in the community. She has had numerous studies funded by federal agencies such as the National Institute of Nursing Research, industry and other organizations such as Marine Polymer Technologies and the American Nurses Foundation. She is the Director of the College’s Symptom Self-Management Center, which provides pilot funding for nurse scientists to develop technology-based interventions, and the Director of Recruitment for the University’s CTSA, the South Carolina Clinical & Translational and Research Institute. 

Keywords: aging, wound prevention, chronic conditions, symptom and self-management science, social determinants of health, study participant recruitment