Dr. Mary Norton, Associate Professor of Nursing at Felician College in New Jersey, and Dr. Wasileh Petro-Nustas, Associate Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Nursing at Hashemite University in Zarka, Jordan, met this week to discuss a long-term collaboration between the colleges. During Petro-Nustas’ two week visit which ends August 13, they will discuss the details of an educational exchange program, publish the results of a joint breast cancer study of Jordanian women, and begin work on replicating the study among Arab women in New Jersey.

The study’s findings will hold special significance in Paterson, New Jersey, which has the second largest Arab population in the United States with 20,000 Arab immigrants. Norton and Petro-Nustas hope their findings will also help spur changes in Jordan’s national health care system which does not cover the cost of breast cancer screenings. Among their study’s results were the findings that breast cancer is the number one cause of cancer deaths among women in Jordan, and 25% of Jordanian women with breast cancer are under the age of 40. “It is a devastating statistic since most women have five or six children, and the diagnosis effects the entire families. notes Petro-Nustas. “With early screening, lives can be saved and reductions in the cost of treatments for breast cancer can result since early treatments are less expensive and yield a 95% cure rate,” says Norton.

Health care has become a defining factor in Jordan where 20 new hospitals have been built in the last five years thereby transforming it into the medical center for the entire Middle East—especially the gulf area, says Petro-Nustas. “People who used to go to the U.K. or U.S. for medical care are now going to Jordan where modern facilities can accommodate their medical needs and doctors and practitioners are highly qualified,” explains Petro-Nustas. Because of the integral roles health care plays in both societies, everyone will benefit from an exchange program, says Norton. “American students who study in Jordan will be able to experience what it is like to be in a foreign culture and how it feels to be the minority—an important aspect of patient care. By having first-hand experience with language and cultural barriers, graduates will be better nurses to their patients,” explains Norton who notes the diversity of cultures in New Jersey and nearby New York City’s large immigrant population. Likewise, Jordanian students would benefit from studying at an American university, says Petro-Nustas, who earned her undergraduate nursing degree in Jordan and went on to earn a Master’s degree and Doctor of Science in the United States.

The collaboration is an outgrowth of Dr. Norton’s Senior Research Fulbright Award which brought her to Jordan in 1986-87 to develop the first graduate program in nursing in the country. Since then Dr. Norton has returned to Jordan many times as a consultant and mostly recently in 1997-98 on another Senior Research Fulbright Award during which time she conducted collaborative research with Dr. Petro-Nustas on “Determinants of breast cancer among Jordanian women,”and on the ethical issue of patient autonomy.

Dr. Wasileh Petro-Nustas earned a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing from Jordan University, a Master’s degree in Community Health Nursing from Boston University, and a Doctor of Science in Public Health from John Hopkins University. Prior to her position as Associate Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Nursing at Hashemite University, Petro-Nustas served as Director of Nursing at the University of Jordan Hospital, Vice-Dean of the University of Jordan Faculty of Nursing, and Chairperson of the Department of Community Health Nursing.

Dr. Mary Norton earned a BA from Jersey City State University, and a Master of Arts, Master of Education, and Doctor of Education from Columbia University, New York. Dr. Norton has also completed a one year post-doctoral program in Ethics at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in the Center for the Study of Society in Medicine. Dr. Norton has been a consultant with the World Health Organization and Project HOPE, and has received two Academic Specialists Awards from the U.S. Information Service. She has been a field researcher for the National Institute of Health in collaboration with Harvard Medical School and has authored a chapter on Transcultural Ethics. She has also conducted ethics workshops in Qatar, Finland and Jordan. Dr. Norton has helped develop graduate programs in Iran and Jordan, and undergraduate programs in China and Pakistan where she also served at the Director of the BSN Program. Dr. Norton was awarded one of the New Jersey State Nurses’ highest awards—the “CARE Award”—for excellence in education and for her contributions to nursing education in the State of New Jersey. Currently, Dr. Norton is also a representative of the International Council of Nurses to the United Nations.

Hashemite University, founded by a Royal Decree in 1991, is considered a premier educational site with a facility so large that Ross Perot has plans to build an industrial park which will also serve to train engineering students. The university’s first class was admitted in 1995 and graduated in 1999, an event which was attended by His Majesty King Abdullah 11 of Jordan.

Felician College is a coeducational, liberal arts, Catholic college, founded in the Franciscan tradition by the Felician Sisters. Located on two campuses in Lodi and Rutherford, NJ, Felician College enrolls 1400 students in 40 undergraduate and graduate programs in the arts and sciences, health sciences, and teacher education.