Eligible to Direct Dissertations
Contact Information
Education
Postdoctoral Fellowship in Behavioral Science, University of Kentucky
PhD, University of Kentucky
MSN, University of Kentucky
BSN, Oakland University
Research Areas
Quality of Life & Chronic Condition Management
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Marginalized Populations
Sociocultural Needs
Managing Chronic Conditions
Intervention Development / Evaluation
Quality of Life
Self-management
Women’s Health
Symptom Science
Managing Symptoms
Racial, Cultural, Ethnic Diversity
Underserved Populations
Awards and Honors
2021 World Expert in Menopause, Expertscape.com
2020 USA Today Most Influential Indiana Women of the Century
2016, Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame
2014 Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science Outstanding Nurse Scientist
2009 Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing
Biography
Dr. Carpenter serves as the interim dean at the Indiana University School of Nursing, and she is a clinical, translational scientist and one of the world’s leading experts on menopause symptoms. Over the past 20+ years, she (1) created the Hot Flash Related Daily Interference Scale, which is now available in 20+ languages and is used internationally, (2) conducted clinical trials testing menopause symptom treatments, (3) led and participated in writing hot flash treatment recommendations issued by the North American Menopause Society, and (4) broke new ground in understanding menopause palpitations. She also created an exhibit that uses sculptures, digital visual media, and music to educate people about hot flashes. The exhibit materials have been featured on social media, websites, videos, and other educational programs. She has authored more than 200 publications and received research funding from the National Institute of Nursing Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institute on Aging, Department of Defense, Pfizer, and others. Her service includes member of the Board of the North American Menopause Society and member of the editorial boards for Menopause and Midlife Women’s Health.
External Funding
2020-2023. “Characterizing Menopausal Palpitations.” (Carpenter/Tisdale MPI). Indiana CTSI, $75,000.
Publications
Description of the video:
I'm known internationally as a hot flash researcher. My name is Janet Carpenter. I'm a distinguished professor and an endowed chair at the IU School of Nursing. I started off as an oncology nurse. I was interested in the symptoms that people have because of getting cancer treatment, and one of the symptoms that people were having are related to hormonal changes that they experience. And so, for example, women with breast cancer were having a really difficult time with menopause. They had an early menopause, they had a rougher time during a regular menopause, or they reexperienced menopause at a later age. And I had been an oncology nurse for a number of years, and I didn't know much about menopause. And when I looked in the literature, there wasn't much that we knew. And so I started my interest in menopause in breast cancer patients, and then because of that research, I started doing work in healthy women. My research has helped nurse practitioners, as well as physicians, help women at menopause. They can have better conversations with women at menopause around what we know works versus what doesn't work to get rid of their hot flashes. I think the work that stands out to me is the work that I did with a a large national network it was called MsFLASH, Menopause Strategies Finding Lasting Answers to Symptoms and Health, and we had funding from the National Institutes of Health. And we looked at all kinds of different treatments for menopause symptoms, and that work has really changed the field. It's been incorporated into two different sets of national guidelines that are available for healthcare providers to understand what works and what doesn't work so that when they meet with patients, they're they're able to counsel them a little bit better about what treatments might be effective. So I feel like that work has made a big impact on clinical practice, and that's really what I set out to do when I got into research.