Gift from Japan advances nursing informatics

Kanetoshi Hattori wants to light a fire under the next generation of nurse researchers. To reach this aim, the former professor at Kobe City College of Nursing in Japan has made a gift to the School of Nursing to foster and encourage research utilizing various nursing informatics methods.

Hattori was introduced to informatics at the University of Minnesota through Associate Professor Emerita Madeleine Kerr, PhD, RN and her innovative work with Geographic Information Science (GIS). Hattori contacted Kerr after reading her research and subsequently traveled to the School of Nursing in 2016. That visit became the foundation of friendships and collaboration with informatics faculty at the school.

“We are deeply honored to receive this groundbreaking gift from our visionary friend and colleague,” says Professor Karen Monsen, PhD, RN, FAMIA, FAAN, director of the Center for Nursing Informatics. “His legacy fuels our passion for informatics research with students and colleagues, nationally and globally.”

Through Hattori’s generosity this funding will target researchers who are utilizing various informatics methods such as text mining, machine learning, GIS, ontology, spatial statistics and/or cognitive linguistics at or in partnership with the University of Minnesota.

The first Hattori Award for Excellence in Informatics Research will be announced in 2021.