Phyllis J. Verhonick Papers

Phyllis J. Verhonick (1922-1977) had a twenty-three-year career in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1968. She subsequently joined the faculty of the University of Virginia School of Nursing, where she also served as Acting Dean from 1972 to 1974. A native of Washington state, Verhonick obtained a B.S.N. from the University of Portland in 1944, and after having joined the Army Nurse Corps in 1945, undertook graduate work at the Teachers College of Columbia University, where she earned an M.A. in 1956 and an Ed. D. in 1958. Verhonick was an early and forceful champion of the importance of nursing research projects for both students and professionals, while she, herself, specialized in research on decubitus ulcers and skin care. Early in her military career, she gravitated toward nursing education and analysis of nursing practices, and upon receiving her doctorate, joined the high-level staff of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, where she remained until retiring from the Nurse Corps. Verhonick published extensively on nursing research, and served in various editorial capacities for the Nursing Forum and Nursing Research academic journals, in addition to holding extensive professional and consultative responsibilities for such organizations as the American Nurses' Association and the American Nurses Foundation, as well as the Veterans' Administration, the Office of the Surgeon General, and the Pan-American Health Organization.