Helena W. Morrison, PhD
2026 Mentoring Future Scholars Award
Helena W. Morrison is an Associate Professor in the Nursing and Health Science Division at the University of Arizona College of Nursing. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Animal Science from the University of California, Davis, her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Angelo State University, and her Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing from the University of Arizona. Her doctoral dissertation examined the contribution of inflammation to cerebral injury after ischemic stroke and reperfusion, and she completed postdoctoral training at the Medical College of Georgia. Prior to her academic career, Dr. Morrison practiced as a registered nurse in the intensive care unit. This clinical foundation informs both her research and her approach to training the next generation of nurse scientists.
Dr. Morrison's research program focuses on mechanisms of injury during ischemic stroke, neuroinflammation, sex differences in stroke outcomes, and the forms and functions of microglia in neurological diseases. Her work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, and she has authored over thirty peer-reviewed publications with more than 2,000 citations. She served on the Editorial Board of Scientific Reports and is an active member of the Society for Neuroscience, Western Institute of Nursing, and the American Heart Association Council on Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing.
Dr. Morrison has received recognition for both scholarship and teaching, including the College of Nursing Outstanding Teaching Award, induction into the Western Academy of Nurses, and was twice recognized as an Outstanding Faculty Mentor by the Undergraduate Biology Research Program at the University of Arizona. Her commitment to mentoring spans undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels. She has chaired five completed doctoral dissertations and currently chairs four doctoral students. She has supervised numerous undergraduate honors theses and has participated in programs supporting underrepresented students, including the Ronald E. McNair Achievement Program and UA’s Step 2 Stem internship program. She considers mentoring and collaboration to be pillars central to her program of research.