Interim Provost Beth A. Winkelstein and Vice Provost for Education Karen Detlefsen announced the appointment of Jie Deng to the Evan C Thompson Term Chair for Excellence in Teaching, beginning July 1, 2023.

Dr. Deng is an associate professor of nursing, faculty director of the Laboratory of Innovative and Translational Nursing Research, and a senior fellow of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics. Her research focuses on long-term cancer survival, especially related to secondary lymphedema, which can cause swelling and hard tissue in the head and neck area following cancer treatment. Secondary lymphedema impacts 75% of U.S. head and neck cancer survivors and profoundly affects physical functions like speech, breathing, and swallowing. Dr. Deng has led pioneering research projects—supported by the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute, and the American Cancer Society, among others—to define, measure, and improve patient outcomes for this critical yet understudied area of cancer survivorship.

At Penn Nursing, Dr. Deng is renowned for her strong commitment to teaching and mentoring students at every level of nursing training, including leading the core courses in both the MSN and PhD programs. Before her doctoral studies, she spent four years as associate chief nursing officer at Peking University Third Hospital, following earlier positions there as supervisor of the medical department and emergency room head nurse. A fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, she received a PhD from the School of Nursing at Vanderbilt University and an MS and BS from the School of Nursing at Peking University.

Evan C Thompson, W’64, endowed the Thompson Professorship in 2003 to recognize teaching excellence. The current Evan C Thompson Professor is Daeyeon Lee in the School of Engineering and Applied Science.