Charlene Douglas
Associate Professor

Unit: School of Nursing
Mail Stop: 3C4
Office Location: Robinson A379
Phone: 703-993-1937
Email: cdouglas@gmu.edu

Dr. Charlene Douglas is the Coordinator for Community Health Nursing. Her scholarly work has been in the areas of community-based practice, access to care and cultural competence. Her contributions to general education include work the Educational Testing Service (ETS) where she was on the committee to write and test essay questions for the newly established writing component of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE).

Community-Based Practice: Dr. Douglas was a community health nurse in Baltimore, MD before earning her Masters in Public Health. She taught Community Health at the University of Maryland before completing her Ph.D. From 1991 to 1992, she was a White House Fellow where she served as Special Assistant to Secretary Louis W. Sullivan at the Department of Health and Human Services. Part of that service was helping to launch the Healthy Start program, aimed at decreasing the infant mortality rate in high risk areas.

Dr. Douglas' primary research interest has been in the area of Quality of Life for cancer survivors. She has published results for this study for Hispanic and African American populations. She serves on the Advisory Committee for INOVA Home Health of Northern Virginia. Her teaching responsibilities include the Community Health Lecture in class and on-line, and the Community Health Clinical for undergraduate and RN students. She is a text reviewer for Community content and serves as a grant reviewer for community programs aimed at reducing adolescent pregnancy.

Cultural Competence: Dr. Douglas has developed and presented Cultural Competence Workshops in a wide range of venues including state-wide Nursing conferences, local hospitals, undergraduate and graduate students. She has written a text chapter on cultural competence and served on doctoral thesis on this subject matter.

Access to Care: In an effort to assist nurses to enroll children in the State Children's Health Insurance Programs nation-wide, Dr. Douglas has publish a journal article on successful enrollment strategies. In clinical courses, students are placed in community organizations and projects with a special outreach to medically indigent or vulnerable populations including area free clinics, mobile vans and shelter care.

Educational Background:

• Ph.D., Health Psychology, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
• MPH - Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
• BSN - Bachelor of Science in Nursing
• BA - Bachelor of Arts in American Studies