Dr. Hershberger is an Associate Professor of Nursing and an Affiliate Professor of Medicine at the University of Illinois Chicago. Building on her clinical practice expertise as a Board-Certified Family Nurse Practitioner, she leads a stellar multidisciplinary research team that aims to improve the health and healthcare of fertility patients and contemporary families including those who use and interface with 3rd party reproduction, repro-genetic biotechnologies, and fertility preservation. As PI, Dr. Hershberger’s innovative research in decision science has been funded by private and federal sources including the National Institutes of Health (NICHD & NINR); the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses; Sigma Theta Tau, International; and the International Society of Nurses in Genetics. Dr. Hershberger’s role as PI, Co-I, and PhD Advisor has garnered over $7.9 million in grant support. She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and the Institute of Medicine Chicago. Other notable awards include the 2013 National Award of Excellence in Research from the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses; the 2005 and 2014 Prize Paper of the Year from the ASRM Nurses Professional Group (NPG); and appointment as the 2019 Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea, the top nursing research university in Asia.
Dr. Hershberger earned her BSN from Indiana University, MSN with FNP from Valparaiso University, PhD from the University of Illinois Chicago; completed post-doctoral training at the University of Michigan and the NIH. She has served on the Board of the Midwest Nursing Research Society (2014-2018) and is currently a Trustee for the Midwest Nursing Research Society Foundation Board and Chair of the Mid-Career Scientific Interest Group for the Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science. Dr. Hershberger is passionate about improving the care of fertility patients and is the Chair-Elect to the ASRM NPG and Chair of the ASRM MHPG Abstract Review Committee.