Dr. Andrea Strayer is a Postdoctoral Fellow whose program of research focuses on positively impacting the social processes of older adults living with and undergoing surgery for degenerative spine disease. In particular, she is interested in improving their immediate postoperative experience by mitigating pain, medical complications, delays, and setbacks. By doing so, older adults can leave the hospital, beginning their recovery sooner. Dr. Strayer will also be applying the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) framework to better understand the processes and patient work older people who have surgery for degenerative spine disease are involved in. Her dissertation work was supported by an external grant from the Agnes Marshall Walker Foundation. In conjunction with her College of Nursing Fellowship, Dr. Strayer is also a VA Quality Scholar Fellow at the Iowa City VA Healthcare System. The VA Quality Scholars program is a two-year training program equipping fellows to be leaders in the practice and research of health services delivery, quality improvement, and patient safety.

Dr. Strayer joined the University of Iowa College of Nursing in 2022 after a long tenure as a Neurosurgery Nurse Practitioner in the Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. She is now Emerita Distinguished Neurosurgery Nurse Practitioner, University of Wisconsin-Madison. In addition to her extensive patient care experience, she is a past president of the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses; co-editor of The Clinical Practice of Neurological and Neurosurgical Nursing, 8th ed., Spine Surgery in an Aging Population, and Handbook of Neurosurgery, Neurology, and Spinal Medicine for Advanced Practice Health Professionals; and Neurosurgical Nursing Section Editor for World Neurosurgery. She is also involved in many interdisciplinary scholarly endeavors.

Curriculum Vitae