Faculty Directory
Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing (MNSON) faculty members are experienced, recognized leaders in their fields who integrate research and practical experiences. MNSON faculty are clinically experienced and passionate about teaching - prioritizing personal connection and interaction with their students. Faculty members challenge students intellectually and guide them with compassion, creating a community of learning, research, and practice that values service, ethics, and providing top-notch health care.
Katherine Breen, PhD, RN, CVRN-BC
Title/s: Assistant Professor
Specialty Area: Multimorbidity, risk modeling, cardiovascular disease
Office #: Health Sciences Campus, CTRE Room 358
Phone: 708.216.8531
Email: kbreen4@luc.edu
About
Dr. Breen is an Assistant Professor within the Loyola University Chicago Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing. She is a Robert Wood Johnson Future of Nursing Scholar Alumni and received her PhD from the University of Illinois Chicago in 2020. She is a former Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA post-doctoral fellow from the National Institute of Nursing Research: Improving Outcomes in Chronic Conditions T32 (2T32NR012715) at Emory University's Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing.
Research Interests
Dr. Breen's research examines the complex relationship among chronic conditions that make up pathologic profiles of multimorbidity. Her program of research centers around using data science to develop risk stratification models using multimorbidity profiles in patients experiencing acute coronary syndrome. Her research has great potential to decrease health disparities and improve outcomes in these highly complex patients. Her secondary interests are in nursing behavior and she has collaborated and co-authored projects examining nursing vaccine hesitancy, speaking up behaviors, and is currently working on a study examining the time course interactions of workplace well being in clinical nurses.
Dr. Breen's clinical expertise is in cardiovascular disease and nursing research facilitation for Magnet institutions which has informed her teaching, research, and scholarship. Dr. Breen currently teaches pathophysiology in the accelerated BSN program.