Devon Noonan, PhD, MPH, FNP-BC, CARN, FIAAN, associate professor at Duke University School of Nursing (DUSON) and Dorothy L. Powell Term Chair of Nursing has received the 2023 SNRS mid-career researcher award for her work developing and evaluating health promotion and disease prevention programs in partnership with rural communities. This award, given by the Southern Nursing Research Society, recognizes a member whose scholarly work impacts the science and practice of nursing in the Southern Region as well as demonstrated influence on nursing research advancement within the profession training the next generation of nursing. 

Noonan, who has been with DUSON since 2017, has a passion for helping improve the health of rural residents. She is a nationally recognized expert in understanding the intersection of prevention science, rural public health and advocacy to improve health and prevent disease in rural communities. Specifically, she has advanced the science in how we effectively address cancer risk behaviors in rural communities. Noonan developed the Health Promotion and Wellness Incubator, a platform to develop and test innovative cancer risk reduction interventions in partnership with rural communities. Her #EunufSNuff.TXT intervention, the first of its kind digital smokeless tobacco cessation intervention for rural communities, has been tested on a national scale, outperforming currently available National Cancer Institute evidenced-based interventions. This groundbreaking tool is currently in the process of being scaled across the state of North Carolina in collaboration with the NC Tobacco Control Branch. 

As co-director of the National Clinician Scholars program, Noonan also has had an impressive impact in training the next generation of scientists. In this role she has helped mentor numerous future scientists to implement community engaged interventions with a focus on reducing some of the most pressing health inequities in the southeast region. These scientists have assumed academic, community and policy positions around the country. 

“I have been involved in SNRS since my days as a doctoral student and much of my work has had a regional focus in rural areas of the Southeast,” said Noonan. “I am honored to receive this award from SNRS.” The chairs of the SNRS awards committee presented a plaque to Dr. Noonan at the SNRS Annual Conference on March 2, 2023, in Orlando, Florida.