Barbara Lutz

Dr. Barbara Lutz is the McNeill Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington School of Nursing. Her 30+ year career as a rehabilitation and public health nurse spans practice, research, education, and service. Her research focuses on understanding the needs and experiences of patients with stroke and other chronic illnesses and their family caregivers as they move through the continuum of care, from acute care to home. The goal of her work is to engage patients and their family caregivers in developing person and family-centered, community-based interventions for people with stroke and other chronic illnesses. She is a Co-Investigator on a PCORI-funded research study to test a person-centered, community-based Emergency Department (ED) to Home transitional care intervention developed in partnership with a research team that includes former patients, family caregivers, social workers, ED physicians, staff of two local Area Agencies on Aging, and health services researchers.

Dr. Lutz is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, American Heart Association (AHA), and National Academies of Practice. She is a board member of the Association of Rehabilitation Nurses and is a co-author on a position paper on the transitional care needs for patients needing rehabilitation services and on AHA scientific statements on palliative care in stroke, risk adjustment for stroke, and best evidence on stroke caregiver interventions. She has also served as a member of the ANA Care Coordination Quality Measures Steering Committee and as a rehabilitation expert on the Joint Commission Technical Advisory Panel for Comprehensive Stroke Center Certification.