MAYA N. CLARK-CUTAIA
Maya N. Clark-Cutaia, PHD, RN, ACNP-BC, FAAN, FADLN, FAANP
Nannie Longfellow Endowed Professor
Office Location:
McDowell Hall
Dr. Maya N. Clark-Cutaia is a nurse scientist, acute care nurse practitioner, educator, and academic leader whose work advances health equity for people living with chronic illness. Her program of research focuses on chronic illness, symptom burden, clinical nutrition, self-management, equitable access to care, and workforce development. Her scholarship examines how individual experiences interact with healthcare systems and social and structural conditions to influence treatment decisions and outcomes. Current areas of inquiry include racial and ethnic inequities across the kidney-transplant continuum, neighborhood disadvantage, medical distrust and institutional trustworthiness, shared decision-making, treatment burden, and the social determinants of health. Her methodological expertise includes clinical trials, mixed-methods research, community-engaged research, secondary analyses of national registries and population-based datasets, and implementation-focused approaches.
Dr. Clark-Cutaia’s research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health and national foundations. She received a K23 Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award from the National Institute of Nursing Research to advance her program of symptom-science research examining sodium intake and outcomes among people receiving hemodialysis. Her earlier scientific training was supported by NIH F31 and T32 fellowships. She was also selected as a member of Cohort 3 of the prestigious Betty Irene Moore Fellowship for Nurse Leaders and Innovators in 2022. She has authored or coauthored numerous peer-reviewed publications and has mentored students and emerging investigators in research, scientific writing, grant development, and national and international dissemination.
Before joining the University of Delaware, Dr. Clark-Cutaia served as the Inaugural Evelyn Lauder Associate Dean for Nurse Practitioner Programs and Professor at the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing. She was the first Black faculty member to attain the rank of full professor with tenure in the School of Nursing. In her associate dean role, she provided leadership for graduate nurse practitioner education and the Evelyn Lauder Community Care Nurse Practitioner Program, an equity-focused partnership with NYC Health + Hospitals. She previously served on the faculty of the NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing and the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.
Dr. Clark-Cutaia’s scholarship and teaching are grounded in extensive clinical experience as an adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioner caring for adults with complex acute and chronic illnesses. Her clinical experience includes urology, general surgery, otorhinolaryngology, surgical oncology, plastic surgery, and colorectal surgery. She served in the U.S. Air Force Reserve as a flight nurse, and later as a community/public health nurse.
Education and Training
- Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, NIH T32 Program
- PhD, Nursing, University of Pittsburgh, 2012
- MSN, Adult Acute Care, University of Pennsylvania, 2006
- BSN, University of Pennsylvania, 2003
Her predoctoral and postdoctoral training included NIH-supported preparation in symptom science, vulnerable populations research, and patient-oriented research.
Graduate and Doctoral Education
- Doctoral research development and scientific mentorship
- Nursing and interdisciplinary research methods
- Scientific writing and dissemination
- Health equity and structural determinants of health
- Chronic illness and symptom science
- Advanced clinical reasoning and evidence-based practice
- Grant and fellowship development
- Curriculum design, competency-based education, and program evaluation
Selected Publications
- Li, Y., Menon, G., Kim, B., et al. (2025). Residential neighborhood disadvantage and access to kidney transplantation. JAMA Network Open, 8(12), e2549679.
- Clark-Cutaia, M. N., Menon, G., Li, Y., et al. (2024). Identifying when racial and ethnic disparities arise along the continuum of transplant care: A national registry study. The Lancet Regional Health – Americas, 38, 100895.
- Thompson, V. L., Li, Y., Liu, Y., et al. (2024). Medical distrust among kidney transplant candidates. Clinical Transplantation, 38(7), e15395.
- Clark-Cutaia, M., Rivera, E., Iroegbu, C., Arneson, G., Deng, R., & Anastasi, J. K. (2022). Symptom burden in chronic kidney disease. Nephrology Nursing Journal, 49(3), 227–255.
- Clark-Cutaia, M., Sevick, M. A., Thurheimer-Cacciotti, J., et al. (2019). Perceived barriers to adherence to hemodialysis dietary recommendations. Clinical Nursing Research, 28(8), 1009–1029.
These publications represent her broader scholarship in symptom science, self-management, kidney transplantation, neighborhood conditions, medical distrust, and health equity.
- National Institute of Nursing Research: K23 Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award, 1K23NR015058
- National Institute of Nursing Research: F31 National Research Service Award
- National Institutes of Health: T32 predoctoral and postdoctoral fellowships
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation: Research addressing decision-making and outcomes among people living with advanced kidney disease
- Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation: Pilot research examining virtual reality during hemodialysis
- Additional foundation, interdisciplinary, and pilot funding supporting health equity, chronic illness, transplantation, and patient-centered outcomes
- Fellow, American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 2026
- Social Justice and Health Equity Alumni Award, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, 2026
- Fellow, American Academy of Nursing, 2025
- Fellow, Academy of Diversity Leaders in Nursing, 2025
- Betty Irene Moore Fellow for Nurse Leaders and Innovators, Cohort 3, 2022
- Nephrology Nurse Researcher Award, 2022
- Nurse Researcher of the Year, Greater New York City Black Nurses Association, 2021
- National Black Nurses Association 40 Under 40 Award, 2019
- Founder and Director, Chronic Conditions Health Equity Research Lab and Coalition
- American Academy of Nursing
- American Association of Nurse Practitioners
- Academy of Diversity Leaders in Nursing
- Eastern Nursing Research Society
- National Black Nurses Association
- National Kidney Foundation
- Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing
- Health equity and chronic illness
- Chronic kidney disease and end-stage kidney disease
- Kidney-transplant access and outcomes
- Symptom science and treatment burden
- Clinical nutrition and dietary sodium
- Self-management and patient-centered outcomes
- Medical distrust, trustworthiness, and communication
- Shared decision-making
- Social and neighborhood determinants of health
- Structural racism and healthcare access
- Community-engaged and mixed-methods research
- Intervention and implementation science
- Advanced practice nursing workforce and care models
ADDITIONAL LINKS
Connect
Tower at STAR: 100 Discovery Blvd, Newark, DE 19713 | Health Sciences Complex: 540 S. College Ave, Newark, DE 19713 chs-info@udel.edu Phone: 302-831-1060