Biography

Dr. Strickland served as Professor in the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. She is the first person to hold an endowed professorship at the School, the Independence Foundation Research Chair. Previously, Dr. Strickland was professor in the School of Nursing of the University of Maryland at Baltimore. She has taught at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Greensboro. She has held nursing positions at Davidson County Health Department and Harlem Hospital Center in New York City. Dr. Strickland is the Founding Editor and Senior Editor of the Journal of Nursing Measurement and served on the editorial boards or panels of Advances in Nursing Science, Research in Nursing and Health, Nursing Outlook, Journal of Professional Nursing, Scholarly Inquiry for Nursing Practice: An International Journal, Encyclopedia of Nursing Research, Health Care for Women International, Nursing Leadership Forum, and the American Journal of Public Health. She initiated the Nursing Citation Index which was subsequently integrated into CINAL, a leading nursing search engine, and was one of the founders of the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute for Nursing Research. Her many professional activities have included serving as: a member of the Advisory Committee to The Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH); a member of the NIH National Advisory Council for Nursing Research; Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the American Journal of Nursing Company; a member of the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus Health Brain Trust; and, as a health policy Congressional intern to former U.S. Congressman Ralphe Metcalfe (D-Ill.). Dr. Strickland has been recognized for her outstanding contributions to nursing through her election to the American Academy of Nursing at age 29, the youngest person ever inducted into the Academy. A former columnist for the Baltimore Sun, her column titled "Nurse's Station," which appeared weekly in the health magazine section of the Morning and Evening Baltimore Sun, won two health journalism awards in 1988. A prolific author, Dr. Strickland has won nine “American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year” Awards. She was selected as a Kellogg National Fellow, a fellowship program in leadership for the nation's top young professionals. Among her many honors are her selection as an Endowment for the Humanities Fellow in Bioethics, an American Nurses' Association Minority Doctoral Fellow, and as a Ford Foundation Fellow. Dr. Strickland received the “Trailblazer Award,” from the National Black Nurses Association, the Mary Elizabeth Carnegie Award from the Southern Council on Collegiate Nursing for her outstanding contributions to health and nursing, and was inducted into the NBNA Institute of Excellence. An internationally known specialist in nursing research, measurement, evaluation, maternal and child health and parenting, Dr. Strickland is frequently called upon as a consultant nationally and internationally, and has presented more than 250 lectures, speeches and workshops. Dr. Strickland was the first researcher in the United States to track and document the symptoms of expectant fathers. Her research on expectant fathers has been featured in over 80 newspapers (including the Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune) and on over 1,200 radio stations internationally. In addition to contributing to professional journals, she has written or contributed to 21 books. Dr. Strickland earned a doctoral degree in child development and family relations from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. She took a master's degree in maternal and child health nursing from Boston University, Massachusetts, and received a bachelor's degree in nursing from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Greensboro. She received Honorary Doctorate of Science degrees from the Ohio Medical College, Toledo, Ohio; and Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan. Dr. Strickland is the proud mother of two sons, David and Steven Cantor.