Denise Côté-Arsenault, Ph.D., the Hemak Endowed professor of maternal child nursing at Saint Louis University, has received a Fulbright Specialist Program award, the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board recently announced. 

Côté-Arsenault will complete a project at the Centre of Postgraduate Medical Education in Poland that aims to exchange knowledge and establish partnerships benefiting participants, institutions, and communities both in the U.S. and overseas through a variety of educational and training activities within public or global health. 

Côté-Arsenault, an internationally recognized expert in pregnancy loss at Saint Louis University’s Trudy Busch Valentine School of Nursing, will work with a group of Ph.D. midwives on their research on parent experiences with pregnancy and birth with life-limiting fetal diagnosis.

“I will share my expertise with them while also learning about their culture and experiences in Poland,” she said.  

While in Poland, Côté-Arsenault will speak informally with members of the Polish Parliament to inform them about perinatal palliative care and her research in the U.S. She will also present "Perinatal Parenting and Grief in the Situation of a Baby’s Brief Life” at the National Conference: “Multifaceted Care of the Newborn and Infant," which will be held on Sept. 20-21, 2024, at the Collegium Pharmaceuticum of the Medical University of Lublin.

Côté-Arsenault is one of over 400 U.S. citizens who share expertise with host institutions abroad through the Fulbright Specialist Program each year. Recipients of Fulbright Specialist awards are selected based on academic and professional achievement, demonstrated leadership in their field, and their potential to foster long-term cooperation between institutions in the U.S. and abroad.

Côté-Arsenault also received the Midwest Nursing Research Society Qualitative Methods Research & Implementation Interest Group’s 2023 Distinguished Investigator Award and the 2019 – ‘20 Fulbright Research Scholar award among other honors.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government. It is designed to build lasting connections between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The Fulbright Program is funded through an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations, and foundations worldwide also provide direct and indirect support to the Program, which operates in over 160 countries worldwide.

Since its establishment in 1946, the Fulbright Program has allowed more than 400,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists, and scientists to study, teach, and conduct research, exchange ideas, and contribute to solutions to shared international concerns. Fulbrighters address critical global issues in all disciplines while building relationships, knowledge, and leadership in support of the long-term interests of the United States. Fulbright alumni have achieved distinction in many fields, including 60 who have been awarded the Nobel Prize, 88 who have received Pulitzer Prizes, and 39 who have served as a head of state or government.