AUSTIN, Texas—Dr. D. Lynn Rew, professor and graduate adviser for the School of Nursing at The University of Texas at Austin, has received the 2001 Society of Adolescent Medicine (SAM) /Organon Visiting Professor in Adolescent Research Award.
The seventh person to hold the professorship, Rew is the first to be honored from the field of nursing. The SAM/Organon Visiting Professorship was established to provide an educational experience in adolescent research for a group of health care providers who might not otherwise have the opportunity to benefit from the professor’s expertise.
Rew, director of the under served and diverse population core of the Center for Health Promotion Research at the UT Austin School of Nursing, conducts research focusing on the sexual health of adolescents particularly in under served populations. Rew currently is funded by the National Institute of Nursing Resarch/NIH to study the sexual health practices of homeless adolescents.
“More (homeless) youth are at risk because of the way they live and what happened in their pasts, like sexual abuse and problems with sexual orientation,” Rew said. “One in every three is at risk, and we don’t know what other factors in early childhood push them into those risky behaviors.”
Her research includes developing interventions to “raise their self-esteem,” Rew said. “They need safe recreation areas, connections with a safe, caring adult. They need a reason to interact positively, to participate in life.”
Rew earned a baccalaureate degree in nursing from the University of Hawaii, and her doctorate degree in education in counselor education from Northern Illinois University in 1979. While completing her doctorate, Rew also received training in sexual therapy from Dr. William Masters and Virginia Johnson. Rew’s research interests stem from her early clinical work with sexually abused children and adolescents and from her work as a certified sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) in the state of Texas.
Rew has been with the UT School of Nursing since 1983 and, in 1991, became a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. She’s authored two books, Awareness in Health and Figuring it Out; An Adolescent Woman’s Guide to Sexual Decision-making,and more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles.
Rew will be presented with the award at the Society’s 2001 Meeting in San Diego on March 23, 2001. Applications for sites for the visiting professorship will be accepted by the society early this spring. For further information, contact Mary McLendon, (512) 471-8036.
