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Diversity Monthly Highlight:
May 10
Dr. Pao-Feng Tsai
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Dr. Tsai receiving Geriatric Nursing
Professorship April 21, 2010. Chancellor Rahn on left,
Dean Barone on right. Photo by UAMS Marketing &
Communications. |
Pao-Feng Tsai, Ph.D., R.N., an
associate professor in the UAMS
College of Nursing, is one of
the leading experts in geriatric
nursing. She was recently
invested with the Alice An-Loh
Sun Endowed Professorship in
Geriatric Nursing. She teaches
in the nursing master and
doctoral programs, but says that
her main mission at UAMS is
research. She spends most of her
time writing grants and
publications. One of her ongoing
research projects examines the
effect of an ancient martial
art, Tai Chi, on knee pain in
elders with dementia.
Dr. Tsai started working as a
home health care nurse in her
country of origin, Taiwan, about
20 years ago. Many of her
clients were elders with
multiple chronic illnesses. She
said, "Back then, there were
very few clinical nurses or
nursing educators with geriatric
expertise in Taiwan. So I
decided to study geriatric
nursing to provide better care
to elderly patients in Taiwan." But then for family
reasons, she decided to stay in
the United States and continue
work with elders here. She has
been at UAMS for eleven years.
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Dr. Tsai speaks three languages, Taiwanese, Mandarin
Chinese and English and has had many hobbies in the past
- water painting, Chinese painting, making pottery,
photography and dancing. "What I enjoy the most now is
wandering around my garden and reading," she said.
Appreciating the diversity at UAMS is so important. Dr.
Tsai stated, "Having a person from any culture or
subculture in any organization/institution will
definitely help people to hear different voices and
understand each other. I am always amazed to see
people's responses when I speak up and I think people
appreciate having input from people with different
backgrounds. We all contribute to the campus, by coming
from different cultural backgrounds, people have a lot
of different thoughts on various issues. By speaking up
and listening, I think we can understand and appreciate
each other better and work together better."
Dr. Tsai shares her many insights with patients,
colleagues and students, but especially wants to teach
"that respecting the differences and treasuring the
similarities among people will help to create a better
work environment which, in turn, will help people to be
productive."
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