April 12, 2005

BIRMINGHAM, AL — Duck-Hee Kang, Ph.D., professor of nursing at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), has been named to the Marie L. O’Koren Endowed Chair in Nursing by the Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama.

The chair, funded by the Hillcrest Foundation and friends and alumni of the UAB School of Nursing, was established in 1992 by the Board of Trustees in honor of O’Koren, the school’s dean from 1970 to 1987. Kang is the second individual to occupy the chair since its inception.

Kang’s primary research interests are psychoneuroimmunology — the study of interactions between the nervous system and the immune system and the relationship between behavior and health — and biobehavioral research in patients with breast cancer.

In addition to her professorship in the School of Nursing, she is an associate scientist with the UAB Center for Health Promotion, an associate professor with the Department of Psychology and an associate scientist with the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Among her numerous honors, last year she was appointed U.S. secretary general of the Global Korean Nursing Foundation. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and currently serves on the editorial board of Research in Nursing & Health.

Kang received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea, and her doctorate degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.