Associate Dean for Research, Western Health Advantage Endowed Professor and Professor

Janice F. Bell, Ph.D., M.P.H., M.N. Janice F. Bell is the associate dean for research, Western Health Advantage Endowed Professor and professor at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis. In her role as associate dean, she provides leadership, guidance and mentorship in research to faculty, students and staff in advancing the school's research program as well as contributes to the development of the next generation of nurse scientists. She also teaches doctoral courses.

An accomplished health services researcher, Bell joined the School of Nursing in 2012. She is a co-founder of the Family Caregiving Institute at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, which is dedicated to advancing system supports for family caregivers. In her current research with the Alameda County Care Alliance, she developed deep partnerships with the faith-based community to co-create an innovative model for care navigation within congregations, reaching older adults with advanced illness. She also led the scientific review for a national panel defining an implementation framework for serious illness care. Bell currently serves as chair of the School of Nursing's Education Policy and Curriculum Development Subcommittee. In 2015, she received the UC Davis Deans' Excellence in Mentoring Award. She was named the Western Health Advantaged Endowed Professor in 2021. The $1 million endowed professorship is a five-year term and supports a mid-career or senior faculty member in the School of Nursing whose specialty advances health through nursing education, research, practice and leadership.

Prior to joining the School of Nursing, Bell was an assistant professor of health services in the School of Public Health at the University of Washington. There, she served as a primary faculty member for the school's Maternal and Child Health Leadership Training Program, an interdisciplinary Master of Public Health program that prepares students for careers in maternal and child public health practice.

Bell received the 2011 Outstanding Manuscript Award at the Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology Conference for a paper that examined associations between shortened sleep duration early in life and subsequent obesity in children.

Bell earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Health Services Research, a Master of Health Services in Maternal Child Health and a Master of Nursing from the University of Washington. She is widely published, with more than 1,000 citations for her top five papers, as well as successful dissemination in the popular press, including the New York Times, Reuters, NBC Nightly News and National Public Radio. Bell also completed an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality postdoctoral fellowship in health services at the University of Washington.

Contact Information: Phone: 916-734-3038 | E-mail: jfbell@ucdavis.edu