Danny Willis, assistant professor, nursing

DNS, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center

Specialization: Men’s health and violence

Representative publication: “Male Battering of Intimate Partners: Theoretical Underpinnings, Clinical Approaches, and Implications,” Nursing Clinics of North America

For my dissertation, I studied hate crime assault and its aftermath among minority men. It was the first research in nursing that looked at this type of violence. What I found was that there were very few resources that victims could turn to, and they experienced psychosocial impairments such as panic, depressed mood, reliving the experience, limited socialization, and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Interestingly, there’s a lot of shame and stigma associated with being a hate crime victim. I found that it was very difficult to recruit research subjects.

I’m interested in the phenomenon of men’s psychological challenges and recovery from trauma, abuse, and assault. I really like the one-on-one meetings with people; that’s why I got into psychiatric nursing. Being that beacon of light for people, that resource that they can turn to.