Nursing educator Leeann Lefler will give the keynote address Monday on putting cardiovascular research into practice at the annual nursing research conference at the University of Arkansas.

This is the 26th year for the Annual Nursing Excellence in Research and Practice conference co-sponsored by the Pi Theta chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International, a nursing honor society, and the U of A's Eleanor Mann School of Nursing. It is to be held from 7:30 a.m. to noon in the Arkansas Union with the opening session in the Verizon Ballroom. Registration for the research conference is $20 and may be paid the morning of the conference.

Lefler is an associate professor of nursing at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. She has a doctorate in nursing science from UAMS and holds adult health clinical nurse specialist certification. Last year, Lefler was one of 10 nurses in the United States to receive the Culture of Health: Breakthrough Leaders in Nursing award from the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, a joint initiative of AARP, the AARP Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The award honored nurses who developed innovative approaches to improve health and health care.

Leflar was the principal investigator on a $434,000 grant funded by the National Institutes of Health that worked to replace traditional, structured aerobic exercise with physical activities incorporated into everyday life. She is a Fellow of the American Heart Association.

The conference's purpose is to promote nursing research and evidence-based practice in Northwest Arkansas, to strengthen the relationship between nursing research, education and practice and to disseminate nursing research and enhance practice.

Tom Kippenbrock, U of A professor of nursing and president of the Pi Theta chapter, will give opening remarks. Other speakers throughout the day include other nursing faculty members, local nurses and nursing students. Topics include cultural competency, palliative care, patient-centered communication, nurse faculty job satisfaction, improving heart failure education and transition of pediatric patients into adult care.

Pi Theta awards and scholarships will be presented and research posters will be displayed.