Meet the 2026 Awardee: Kathleen O. Lindell, PhD, FAAN, ATSF
Kathleen Oare Lindell, PhD, RN, FAAN, ATSF is Associate Professor and Mary Swain Endowed Chair in Palliative Care Health at Medical University of South Carolina College of Nursing with joint appointments in College of Medicine and College of Health Professions. She is a graduate of the St. Francis General Hospital Professional School of Nursing (Diploma RN), and the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing [BSN, MSN (Pulmonary Specialty), and PhD.
Dr. Lindell began her career as a critical care nurse at St. Francis General Hospital in Pittsburgh, transitioned to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania PENN Lung Center as a Pulmonary Clinical Nurse Specialist (PCNS). She returned to be PCNS at the inaugural University of Pittsburgh Dorothy P. & Richard P. Simmons Center for Interstitial Lung Disease at UPMC where she led the patient education and support for patients and their caregivers. After obtaining her PhD, she received NIH, foundation, and intramural funding, and continued her research focus toward promoting palliative care knowledge to improve quality of life for patients with advanced lung disease. As a result of her work, she developed a nurse-led palliative care intervention entitled “A Program of SUPPORT™” for patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) and their caregivers and has advanced SUPPORT™ to other advanced lung diseases, including progressive pulmonary fibrosis (PPF), advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and most recently this work has been adapted for patients with Alzheimer's and dementia related diseases. Her work resulted in >85 peer-reviewed publications and a book entitled Palliative Care in Lung Disease for the ATS Series on Respiratory Medicine. Dr. Lindell is actively involved in the American Thoracic Society serving on their Board of Directors from 2025 -2028. At present, she is Co-Chair of the Lancet Respiratory Commission Patient and Family Advisory Board on Palliative Care in Serious Respiratory Illness and the Associate Editor of Heart and Lung; the Journal of Acute and Critical Care. She's also an active member of the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation, currently on the Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee and the University of Hull Wolfson Palliative Care Research Centre - Scientific Advisory Committee. In her role as the Mary Swain Endowed Chair in Palliative Care Health, she advances scholarly work of palliative care among healthcare professionals, students, patients and their caregivers, and the public, ultimately to improve quality of life for patients and families affected with serious illness.ly.
Description
The purpose of this award is to recognize exceptional contributions to mentoring and training of early career individuals in research and/or clinical practice. We encourage applications from: 1) Midcareer individuals (e.g. 6+ years since completion of post graduate training) who have mentored undergraduate and/or graduate students in research and/or clinical care; 2) senior investigators who have mentored pre- and/or post-doctoral scholars and; 3) early career faculty and clinicians. Individuals with a record of mentoring interdisciplinary and interprofessional colleagues and/or mentoring efforts that achieve a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment in nursing are preferred. We encourage applications from nominees with diverse backgrounds.
Materials for nomination
- Nominees CV which includes any scholarly or service activities of applicant within ATS
- Table that lists current and past mentees including mentee’s current employment/position and number of products (e.g. grant funding, publications, educational attainment or other relevant metrics)
- Nomination letter by one or more mentees describing the track record of successful mentorship, impact on career development and career advancement of the mentee
- Personal statement (1 page max) describing scoring criteria (teaching/mentoring contributions including documented success in how their mentorship has supported the attainment of a diverse, inclusive and equitable environment in their institution, research setting or clinical setting, participation in ATS assembly or ATS activities).
Criteria
a. Registered nurse
b. ATS nursing assembly member for at least one year
Scoring metric
a. Mentoring experience
b. Interprofessional/Interdisciplinary mentorship
c. Efforts to achieve diverse, equitable and inclusive environment in nursing
Scoring scale
a. Mentoring experience: evaluated by number of mentees, quality of mentoring (as described by mentees) or years spent in a mentorship role. Those with multiple mentees, over a long period of time and with exceptional descriptions of their mentoring capabilities will be scored higher (5/5) than those with 1-2 mentees and weak nomination letters (1/5)
b. Interprofessional/interdisciplinary mentorship: evaluated by the nominees commitment to mentoring nurses and other interprofessional and interdisciplinary colleagues. Individuals who have worked with mentees from diverse disciplines and subspecialties (e.g., physicians, social workers, nurse clinicians) will be scored higher than those who have mentored nurse researchers in academia only.