Meet the Study Team
Dr. Susan Dunn, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN
Professor Emerita
University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing
Department of Biobehavioral Health Sciences
Heart Up! website: https://heartup.uic.edu
Dr. Susan Dunn is Professor Emerita in the Department of Biobehavioral Health Science at the UIC College of Nursing. She has clinical experience working in both acute care and cardiac rehabilitation settings. She developed and published the State-Trait Hopelessness Scale©, now used in 18 countries. Her published research focusing on hopelessness in patients with ischemic heart disease has received several awards and resulted in two national press releases from the American Heart Association. Her recent National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01-funded study (Heart Up!) focused on an intervention to improve physical activity and reduce hopelessness in patients with ischemic heart disease. Dr. Dunn is a Fellow of the American Heart Association and the American Academy of Nursing. She was inducted into the Nursing Research Hall of Fame in 2024.
Heather Pauls Hrynyk, MPH
Project Director
University of Illinois Chicago College of Nursing
Heather joined HeartUp! as Project Director in February of 2023 where she is responsible for the
coordination of research activities at the home institution (UIC Site) and across the study, organizing
team meetings, and managing communications with co-investigators and stakeholders. Heather has
over 10 years of experience in data management, biostatistics and research design, implementation,
and methodology. She holds a Masters of Public Health (MPH) in Epidemiology from the UIC School of
Public Health and has more recently served as Project Director for a large ophthalmic study at the UIC
College of Medicine before returning to the UIC College of Nursing.
Madison Goodyke, PhD, BSN, RN
Research Specialist
University of Illinois Chicago College of Nursing
Madison is a Research Specialist on the Heart Up! study. In this position, she coordinates and prepares materials for patient visits with nurses and data collectors. Madison graduated with her BSN from Hope College and graduated with her PhD in the College of Nursing at University of Illinois Chicago. She has clinical experience working in the Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit at Spectrum Health. For her dissertation research, she is interested in studying the relationships among social support, heart rate changes and hopelessness in patients that have been hospitalized for a heart event.
Anna T. Davis, PhD, BSN, RN
Research Staff
University of Illinois Chicago College of Nursing
Anna T. Davis earned her BSN from San Francisco State University and her PhD from the University of Illinois Chicago. At Heart Up!, she managed and scheduled nurses and data collectors, ensured data fidelity, and maintained staff compliance through ongoing training coordination. With a clinical background in integrated physical and mental health care for patients affected by trauma, cancer, and cardiovascular disease, her research focuses on psychometric evaluation of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) using Rasch modeling. Her goal is to advance trauma-informed assessment by integrating nurse-led insights into technologies that improve communication, decision-making, and patient outcomes.
Larisa Ann Burke, MPH
Data Manager
University of Illinois Chicago College of Nursing
Larisa has more than 10 years of applied research experience in biostatistics, research design, methodology, and outcomes measurement. She has contributed to the implementation of numerous patient-oriented research projects involving a varied team of collaborators. Larisa hold a Masters in Public Health with a Biostatistics major from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her research focus is the statistical analysis of health data. She has extensive experience managing research data in SAS, STATA, SPSS, ACCESS, R, Qualtrics, REDCap and Excel, including database design, data queries, data cleaning, and statistical analysis.
Ulf G. Bronas, PhD, ATC, ATR, FSVM, FAHA
Co-investigator
Professor of Biobehavioral Science in Nursing and Rehabilitation & Regenerative Medicine
Columbia University
Division of Research and Scholarship
School of Nursing
Division of Rehabilitation & Regenerative Medicine
Eileen G. Collins, PhD, RN, FAACVPR, FAAN
Co-investigator
Professor, University of Illinois Chicago College of Nursing,
Department of Biobehavioral Nursing Sciences
Holli A. DeVon, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN
Co-investigator
Professor, University of California Los Angeles School of Nursing
Nathan L. Tintle, PhD
Co-investigator
Professor, Dordt University Department of Statistics