Heidi Donovan

Heidi Donovan, PhD, RN, is a Professor of Nursing and Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing, where she also serves as the PhD Program Director and Co-Director of the National Rehabilitation Research & Training Center on Family Support (NCFS; Grant 90RTGE0002). Her research focuses on developing and testing e-health interventions to improve self-management for families facing chronic and life-threatening illnesses, grounded in the Representational Approach (RA) theory she co-developed.

• Current roles: PhD Program Director, Co-Director of NCFS
• Research areas: Cancer symptom management, family caregiving, digital health
• Notable collaborations: National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, Foundation for Women’s Cancer, NRG Oncology

Dr. Donovan teaches graduate courses like Theoretical Foundations of Research (NUR 3044) and Theory Guided Intervention Research (NUR3289) and mentors PhD students, integrating them into her research team. Her work has been funded by grants from NINR (R01NR010735; NR01370) and the Administration for Community Living. She was recently awarded the 2025 Provost’s Award for Excellence in Doctoral Mentoring for her dedication to student growth and advocacy.

Dr. Donovan founded the GynOnc Family CARE Center at Magee-Womens Hospital, embedding evidence-based caregiver support into gynecologic cancer care. Her RA framework has guided interventions across conditions like heart failure, end-stage renal disease, and palliative care.