Anessa Foxwell

Dr. Anessa Foxwell is a Nurse Scientist on Dr. Kate Courtright’s team. Anessa graduated with her PhD and MBE from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in 2024. Anessa’s dissertation focused on clinician distress trajectories when caring for seriously ill hospitalized patients. Anessa completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Nursing, supported by Dr. Connie Ulrich’s grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, examining moral distress in nurses during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Anessa’s doctoral and postdoctoral training included a focus on rigorous qualitative and mixed methodologies.

Anessa is an instructor at Penn Nursing where she teaches palliative care and bioethics. Additionally, Anessa continues a clinical practice, working part-time in the Penn Medicine Oncology Evaluation Center. Previously, Anessa was a founding member of the Inpatient Palliative Care Service at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, providing inpatient consultation as a Nurse Practitioner for those with serious illness. Anessa was named one of the 2022 Hospice and Palliative Nurses Foundation Emerging Leaders and was honored as a Fellow in Palliative Care Nursing by HPNA in 2023.