Emily Barr, PhD, RN, CPNP-PC, CNM, ACRN, FACNM, FAAN

Associate Professor

Emily Barr.

ADDRESS:
 School of Nursing
University at Buffalo
301 B Wende Hall
Buffalo, NY 14214-8013

PHONE: 716-829-3231

EMAIL: ebarr@buffalo.edu

Emily Barr,  PhD, RN, CPNP-PC, CNM, ACRN, FACNM, FAAN, is an associate professor at the University at Buffalo School of Nursing and a pediatric nurse practitioner and certified nurse-midwife. A Rochester, NY, native, she earned her bachelor’s degree in communication from Cornell University, her master’s in nursing at Yale University with a focus on pediatric chronic illness care, and her PhD at the University of Colorado. Her early clinical work with infants, children, adolescents and women living with HIV continues to shape her scholarship, clinical focus and national service.

Barr’s research centers on engagement in care and the relational foundations of health, with particular attention to patient–provider trust, intellectual humility in clinical practice, vaccine confidence, and breastfeeding and infant feeding in the context of chronic conditions. Her program of research also examines benefit-finding and “silver linings” among women aging with complex health conditions, including HIV and diabetes, with the goal of improving care experiences, mental health and long-term outcomes.

Barr is a Fellow of the American College of Nurse Midwives and the American Academy of Nursing and a recipient of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care Researcher/HIV Impact Award. In 2025, she received the Shirley A. Smoyak Article of the Year Award from the Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services for a systematic review examining cognitive-based therapy as a strategy for suicide risk prevention in adolescents. She was also named the Robert Langford Early Stage Investigator by the Texas Center for AIDS Research in 2025.

Her humanities scholarship includes essays in AIDS and The Paris Review. She serves as associate faculty with the McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics and is a member of the Executive Editorial Board of the Journal of Medical Humanities.

A Yale CARES Fellow, Barr expands evidence-informed strategies in health equity, perinatal HIV and the use of simulation to teach bias in health care. Nationally, she serves on the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care Board of Directors, co-authored ANAC’s position statement on breastfeeding and chestfeeding for people with HIV, and contributes to CITYMATCH task forces addressing congenital syphilis and perinatal HIV. She also supports children with serious medical conditions through her service on the Roundup River Ranch Medical Advisory Board.