Julie Barroso, a nurse educator and clinician who has studied HIV-related fatigue and helped women overcome the stigma of being infected with the virus, has been named professor and associate dean for doctoral programs at the University of Miami’s School of Nursing and Health Studies. Barroso will begin her appointment on January 1, 2014. She is a professor at Duke University School of Nursing and a senior research fellow in the Duke Health Inequalities Program.

“We are excited to have Dr. Barroso join our team,” said Nilda P. Peragallo Montano, dean of the School of Nursing and Health Studies. “She is a highly respected leader in the nursing field, an accomplished and prolific HIV/AIDS investigator, and a gifted mentor who has helped launch the careers of so many grateful young scientists and practitioners. The coming years will be transformational for our school and for the field, and I know Dr. Barroso’s expertise, dedication, and enthusiasm will be an integral part of making it all happen.”

Barroso comes to UM from Duke University’s School of Nursing, where she served as professor and senior research fellow in the Duke Health Inequalities Program.

Upon assuming her role, Barroso will direct the school’s doctoral programs—the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) and the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.). Barroso sees new roles for nurses as leaders and researchers. She strongly believes nurse scientists know how to ask the research questions that others don’t think of asking because of their patient-care experience.

“I’m delighted to be joining the University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies,” said Barroso. “This is where I really want to be—with incredibly brilliant and motivated faculty and staff.”

While caring for AIDS patients early in her career, Barroso found that fatigue was their primary complaint. She eventually conducted more than 15 years of research on AIDS-related fatigue, becoming one of only three investigators in the United States who studied the problem. Her research is also helping HIV-infected women overcome the stigma associated with their illness. She was the first R.N. on the Board of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care. This work is Barroso’s passion—to not do it “would be like not breathing,” she said. Barroso is also an ardent believer in the power of mentoring, which she considers vital because others helped her along the way.

“As health care transforms, nurses as clinicians, educators, and scientists are going to be needed now more than ever,” she said. “We’re the ones on the front lines. We know how to keep people out of hospitals and help them find a better quality of life within the context of an illness.”

Barroso received her B.S.N. from Florida State University and her master’s degree from the University of South Florida. Barroso earned her Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin.