Cathy D. Meade, Ph.D., RN, FAAN
Educational and Institutional Background
| Elmhurst College, Elmhurst, IL | BSN | Nursing Science |
| University of Illinois at the Medical Center, Chicago, IL | MSN | Nursing Science |
| Unviersity of Illinois, Chicago IL | PhD | Nursing Science |
Current Positions
- Senior Member, Population Science, Health Outcomes & Behavior, Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL
- Professor, University of South Florida, Department of Oncologic Sciences, College of Medicine, Tampa, FL
- Professor, University of South Florida, Courtesy Adjunct Appointment, College of Nursing, Tampa, FL
Role in ECHO
Cathy Meade is a member of the ECHO Training Program Advisory Panel.
Research Background
Dr. Meade is a registered nurse and a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. She was one of first nurse investigators to conduct studies in the area of patient understanding identifying the mismatch between a patient’s reading level and the reading level of health information. Practical aspects of this work have been published widely to help health professionals and nurses develop easy-to-understand patient educational tools and interventions. Dr. Meade has served on a number of National Cancer Institute work groups on Cancer and Literacy and Informed Consent in Cancer Clinical Trials for increasing awareness of the impact of literacy in health care. She was a member of the Institute of Medicine’s Health Literacy Committee, which produced the 2004 report titled “Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion.” Her research and education interests primarily centers on developing culturally and literacy relevant cancer communications, developing sustainable community outreach initiatives, and creating cancer training programs to increase the number of underrepresented scientists. As a community-minded researcher, several funded projects exemplify her work that take into account culture, language and literacy for impacting health disparities.