SLU Professor Named to Nursing Honor Society's Hall of Fame

SLU Professor Named to Nursing Honor Society's Hall of Fame

Saint Louis University Professor Verna Hendricks-Ferguson, Ph.D., has been inducted into the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame in Toronto, Canada, at Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society of Nursing's 37th International Nursing Research Congress this summer.

This honor represents the highest nursing research honor and celebrates nurse researchers who achieve significant and sustained national or international recognition and whose research improves the profession and the public.

"Dr. Ferguson-Hendricks' Hall of Fame induction is a reflection of a career dedicated to advancing knowledge, improving patient care, and inspiring future generations of nurse scholars," said Kristine L'Ecuyer, Ph.D., Dean of the Trudy Busch Valentine School of Nursing. "This extraordinary achievement brings great pride to our school and highlights the profound impact of her research on the nursing profession."

The honor is just the latest for Hendricks-Ferguson, Ph.D., who serves as the Irene Riddle Endowed Chair and Professor at the Trudy Busch Valentine School of Nursing. Earlier this year, she was named to the 2026 National Distinguished Nurse Researcher Award by the National Hospice and Palliative Nursing Association (HPNA).

"I was deeply honored to be inducted into the Sigma International Distinguished Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame," Hendricks-Ferguson said. "Also, I am very humbled to share that I am the second school of nursing faculty member to be inducted into this very prestigious group of distinguished nurse researchers, joining Dr. Norma Metheny."

Hendricks-Ferguson has spent her research career focused on palliative/end-of-life care (PC/EOL). She has focused on bereaved parents' concerns about symptoms experienced by a child with cancer during hospice care and their preferences to receive hospice information.

Her research has also looked at pediatric oncology nurses' perspectives about end-of-life communication with parents of children with cancer and has evaluated MD/RN-communication intervention on early PC/EOL information to parents of children with a poor-prognosis cancer.

For approximately 25 years, her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and professional organizations (e.g., Alex Lemondate Foundation, Oncology Nursing Society, Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing). Her program of funded research has focused on testing interventions to enhance provider discussions with parents about the benefits of early palliative-care support for pediatric patients with a poor-prognosis cancer diagnosis and mind-body interventions such as art, music, and yoga.

She has served as a mentor for junior-career nursing faculty and doctoral-nursing students in the USA and other countries and regions, including Thailand, Africa, and the Middle East. She has received respected nursing awards, including the Distinguished Nurse Researcher Award by three national nursing organizations: Association of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Nursing (APHON); Hospice and Palliative Nursing Association (HPNA); and Oncology Nursing Society (ONS).