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Cheryl Himmelfarb

Cheryl R. Dennison Himmelfarb


PhD, MSN, BS, RN

FAAN, FAHA, FPCNA

ANP, APRN

Dr. Cheryl Dennison Himmelfarb is Vice Dean for Research and Sarah E. Allison Endowed Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. She is an eminent nurse scientist whose passion and commitment to promoting cardiovascular health equity and engaging diverse populations in research is evident throughout her extensive program of research and policy advocacy. Dr. Himmelfarb’s leadership capacity and expertise in cardiovascular nursing science and policy is evidenced by her contribution to national guidelines and scientific statements published by the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology. Her contributions have ensured representation of nursing science in these important guidelines with emphasis on crucial role of nurses in all aspects of cardiovascular prevention.

As Deputy Director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Clinical & Translational Research (Hopkins CTSA Award), Dr. Himmelfarb leads efforts across Johns Hopkins to develop innovative community engagement and research participant recruitment and retention methods. She established the Recruitment Innovation Unit that develops and rapidly scales informatics-based research participant recruitment approaches. Innovations include development of one of the first models in the nation of a robust “MyChart Recruitment Service”, which uses Epic to identify study populations via computational phenotyping and send MyChart messages to potential study participants. 

Dr. Himmelfarb also leads the NIH-funded Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL) Washington DC-Maryland-Virginia consortium of 5 universities and over 35 community-based organizations that are testing digital and grassroots strategies to increase community partnership and diverse participation in research. Through her leadership and innovation, Dr. Himmelfarb’s research is improving engagement and increasing the level of trust in the community which is an important step in addressing health disparities.

Dr. Himmelfarb has made important contributions to developing the next generation of nurse scientists and community-engaged researchers through her mentorship of junior faculty and trainees. Dr. Himmelfarb is a remarkable leader in the field of cardiovascular nursing science and an effective advocate for cardiovascular health equity and shared academic-community leadership in research.  Dr. Himmelfarb provides leadership for research strategy and related initiatives for the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. Her responsibilities broadly include monitoring and expanding the school’s research portfolio and enhancing faculty competitiveness for research funding, while ensuring regulatory compliance and responsible, reproducible conduct of research. She is a professor of Nursing, Medicine, and Public Health.

Wikipedia Bio

JHU Center Affiliation:
Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality
Center for Cardiovascular & Chronic Care


Specialties and Expertise
  • Cardiovascular
  • Care Coordination
  • Chronic Care
  • Community
  • Disparities
  • Electronic Medical Records
  • Equity
  • Health Behavior
  • Health Policy
  • Interprofessional
  • Palliative Care
  • Primary Care
  • Quality Improvement
  • Research Design
  • Safety