Dr. Eileen K. Fry-Bowers
PhD, JD,APRN, FAAN
Associate Provost for Research Administration, USD
Season 02 - Episode 03
Dr. Eileen K. Fry-Bowers PhD, JD, APRN, FAAN
Associate Professor and Nurse Researcher
Associate Provost for Research Administration
University of San Diego
Dr. Fry-Bowers received her bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, from Loma Linda University School of Nursing; her master’s degree from the University of Rochester School of Nursing; and her Juris Doctor, summa cum laude, from Whittier Law School, where she was awarded the Dean’s Citation Award for service to the law school community and the public. She received her PhD from UCLA School of Nursing, with an emphasis in health services, where she was awarded a Chancellor’s Fellowship and named a University of California Regents Scholar. Her dissertation research focused on the association of maternal health literacy with structures, processes and outcomes of care in pediatric populations. She completed a federally funded (National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Nursing Research) post-doctoral fellowship at UCLA in the care of vulnerable populations research with a focus on child health policy. She has also completed several additional professional fellowships addressing health law, regulation and health policy.
Dr. Fry-Bowers is a certified pediatric nurse practitioner (CPNP), a licensed attorney, and a veteran (Desert Shield/Desert Storm), having served in the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps.
Her extensive clinical experience spans multiple health care settings, including acute care facilities, specialty and community-based clinics, and military institutions. Her academic experience includes faculty and leadership appointments in Schools of Nursing, Medicine and Public Health.
She has worked with regional non-profit organizations to engage in community health development, co-developed an innovative, regional health policy fellowship, placing multidisciplinary students in the public sector to promote "health in all policies," and co-founded and served as associate director of an interprofessional health policy and leadership institute, affiliated with a university and five health systems, where she conducted policy and regulatory analysis, and coached faculty from seven of the university’s professional schools. She has authored multiple journal articles and book chapters in seminal nursing and health care texts on advocacy, child health, and health policy.
Dr. Fry-Bowers is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN) and as of November 2020 will be the Chair for the Expert Panel on Child, Adolescent and Family. She holds editorial board positions on the Journal of Pediatric Health Care, and Policy, Politics and Nursing Practice. She was selected as a Faculty Policy Fellow for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) and served two terms on the Health Policy Advisory Council for AACN.
Her current research and policy interests, which broadly focus on child and family health, as well as the nursing profession, fall into three categories: examining the impact of social policies on child and family health and well-being; exploring the impact of legislative and regulatory change on the delivery of pediatric health services; and investigating healthcare workforce education, practice, legal and ethics issues, especially regarding the care of vulnerable and underserved populations.
