Faculty Directory Listing

Marilyn J. Hockenberry, PhD, RN, PNP-BC, FAAN

Professor Emerita

Bessie Baker Professor of Nursing

  • Brief Bio

    Dr. Marilyn Hockenberry, PhD, RN, PNP-BC, FAAN, is the Bessie Baker Professor of Nursing at Duke University School of Nursing. Dr. Hockenberry, a distinguished leader in pediatric oncology and evidence-based practices and outcomes, is actively involved in the School’s cancer-related research initiatives and teaches in the DNP program. She also serves as one of the 11 chairs of the Duke Institutional Review Board.

    Before coming to Duke, she was Professor of Pediatrics in the Hematology/Oncology Division at Baylor College of Medicine. She also served as the nurse scientist for the hospital and director of the pediatric nurse practitioner program in the Texas Children’s Cancer Center at Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH) from 1994 to 2012. At TCH, she served as director of the Center for Research and Evidence-based Practice from 2002 to 2009 and director of the Evidence-based Outcomes Center from 2004 to 2009. Earlier in her career, she practiced as a hematology/oncology nurse practitioner at Duke University Medical Center and was a clinical associate in the Duke School of Nursing.

    Dr. Hockenberry received her BSN from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, the Master of Science degree from Texas Woman’s University in Houston and her Pediatric Nurse Practitioner certification through Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia. She earned a PhD in nursing with distinction from the Medical College of Georgia. Her research focuses on treatment-related side effects experienced by children who have cancer and is the recipient of numerous research grant awards. Her latest NIH funded research grant evaluates phenotypic and genotypic characteristics and their associations with symptom clusters experienced during treatment for childhood leukemia. She has authored more than 80 publications, and has served for the past 10 years as senior editor for the Wong Pediatric Nursing Textbooks published by Elsevier. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. She was appointed as a member of the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) Scientific Council in February 2011. She is the Vice-Chair for the COG Nursing Discipline and serves as the Research Chair for the COG Nursing Research Committee. She received the 2011 Distinguished Nurse Researcher Award and the 2011 Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing Writing Award at the 35th national conference of the Association of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nurses. In July of 2016 during the 27th International Nursing Congress in Cape Town, South Africa she received the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame Award from Sigma Theta Tau International.

    Academic Program Affiliations

    PhD in Nursing Program
    Doctor of Nursing Practice Program

    Education

    PhDMedical College of Georgia
    MSTexas Woman’s University
    BSNCapital University

    Professional Certifications

    PNP-BCPediatric Nurse Practitioner, Board Certified

    Research Interests

    • Symptom assessment in children with cancer
    • Physiologic markers and symptom severity
    • Academic and cognitive changes in children with leukemia
    • Oxidative stress and CNS tissue injury in children with leukemia