Betty Bekemeier, PhD, MPH, RN is an Assistant Professor at the University of Washington School of Nursing where her focus is on public health systems research particularly as it pertains to state and local health departments and public health nurses. Among her research activities, she is PI of the Public Health Activities and Services Tracking (PHAST) study, working with public health practice-based research networks around the country to combine detailed data reflecting public health services to monitor the outcome of these services on the public's health and in reducing disparities.

In 2009 Betty was given the UW School of Nursing 2009 Award for Excellence in Promoting Diversity Through Teaching and 2009 APHA Executive Directors Citation and most recently. In 2010 she was named a Nurse Faculty Scholar by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for her outstanding promise as a future leader in academic nursing. Dr. Bekemeier received her PhD from the University of Washington and Masters of Public Health and Masters of Nursing from the Johns Hopkins University.

Betty has served in leadership positions within the American Public Health Association and the Washington State Public Health Association. She also served as the Deputy Director of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Turning Point National Program Office, working with local and state health department colleagues and partners across the country to transform their public health infrastructure. Prior to coming to the UW, the majority of Betty's career has been in local public health practice were she has worked in a variety of positions including providing Public Health Nursing field services, managing field staff and clinical programs, and heading up community assessment activities as an epidemiologist.

Her selected publications include:

Bekemeier B, Grembowski D, Yang Y, Herting J. (2011, Apr 20). Local public health delivery of maternal child health services: Are specific activities associated with reductions in Black- White mortality disparities? Maternal and Child Health Journal. [Epub ahead of print].

Issel, M., Bekemeier, B., & Baldwin, K. (2011). Three population-patient care outcome indicators for public health nursing: results of a consensus project. Public Health Nursing. 28(1) 24-34.

Grembowski, D., Bekemeier, B., Conrad, D., Krueter, W. (2010) Are Local Health Department Expenditures Related to Racial Disparities in Mortality? Social Science and Medicine. 71(12):2057-65.

Issel, M., Bekemeier, B., (2010) Safe practice of population- focused nursing care: Development of a public health nursing concept. Nursing Outlook. 58(5). 226-32. PMID: 20934077

Bekemeier, B. & Jones, M. (2009) Relationships between Local Public Health Agency Functions and Agency Leadership and Staffing: A look at nurses. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 16(2) e8-e16.

Bekemeier, B. (2009). Nurses Utilization and Perception of the Community/Public Health Nursing Credential. American Journal of Public Health. 99(5) 944-949.

Bekemeier, B. (2008). Upstream Nursing Research and Practice. Applied Nursing Research, 21(1) 50-52.

Bekemeier, B., Riley, C., Padgett, S. M., & Berkowitz, B. (2007). Making the Case: Leveraging resources toward public health system improvement in Turning Point states. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 13(6) 649- 654.

Bekemeier, B., Riley, C., & Berkowitz, B. (2007). Leveraging Finances for public health system improvement: Results from the Turning Point Initiative. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 13(6), 642-648.

Bekemeier, B. (2007). Credentialing for Public Health Nurses: Personally valuedbut not well recognized. Public Health Nursing, 24(5), 439-448.

Bekemeier, B. & Butterfield, P. (2005). Unreconciled inconsistencies: A critical review of the concept of social justice in 3 national nursing documents. Advances in Nursing Science, 28(2), 152-162.