Mary Ellen Wright, PhD, APRN, CPNP

_{Mary Ellen Wright, PhD, APRN, CPNP, is currently an Assistant Professor and CUSHER Scholar at Clemson University School of Nursing (CUSON) in Clemson, S.C. Dr. Wright serves as faculty in the Family Nurse Practitioner Program pediatric course and graduate research. Dr. Wright is a certified pediatric nurse practitioner and women’s health nurse practitioner for 37 years. She has been a nurse scientist for Mission Health in Western North Carolina and a Faculty Administrator and interim director of undergraduate nursing for the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing in Boca Raton, Florida. Dr. Wright’s research currently focuses on perinatal substance exposure with concentration on approaches to service delivery and social supports for mothers using “Nursing as Caring” as the theoretical framework. Dr. Wright’s research has involved the development of a pediatric tool to measure functional impairment of children with developmental and behavior pediatric concerns, help-seeking for victims of interpersonal violence, home health nursing to engage mothers with substance use disorder, sources of informational support for mother in the Appalachian region, stories of mothers with addiction and recovery, novel psychotropics and child maltreatment to name a few. Dr. Wright served on the Expert Panel for the National Land Grant University Response to the Opioid Crisis.  She was past lead on a Duke Endowment Grant for Family-Centered Approach to Perinatal Substance Exposure, is currently a co-investigator on EMPOWER project (engaging medicine providers on ways to enhance recovery) funded by SAMHSA. Dr. Wright also leads a Clemson University creative inquiry on perinatal substance exposure for undergraduate student involvement in research. Dr. Wright is a member of the Board of Directors for the International Association on Human Caring. She has been named as a Great 100 Nurse in North Carolina. Dr. Wright has presented at many international and National conferences on the topics of child maltreatment, perinatal substance use, approaches to research and multiple topics surrounding healthcare delivery and the affect on families.}