UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Lisa Kitko, assistant professor of nursing, was inducted as an International Fellow of the American Heart Association (FAHA) on Nov. 10 at the AHA’s annual Scientific Sessions in Orlando, Florida.
Fellowship in the AHA recognizes the scientific and professional accomplishments of health care professionals with a major and productive interest in cardiovascular disease and stroke.
Kitko’s areas of research interest include heart failure and mechanical circulatory support, as well as family caregiving and palliative/end-of-life care. One of her current research projects is an AHA-funded study of terminal heart failure patients with left ventricular assist devices (LVADs). Another study, funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research, explores the palliative care needs of heart failure patients with a predicted survival of two years or less and their primary family caregivers.
Earlier this year, Kitko was selected by the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation as a 2015 Macy Faculty Scholar, an honor reserved for just five university faculty members nationwide. In May, she was named second runner-up in the Nursing Investigator Awards session at the Second World Congress on Acute Heart Failure, presented by the European Society of Cardiology. Kitko holds master’s and doctoral degrees in nursing from Penn State and a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Pittsburgh.