Ava Puccio, RN, PhD

Ava M. Puccio, RN, PhD, is an associate professor with tenure in the Department of Neurological Surgery and also co-director of the Neurotrauma Clinical Trials Center in collaboration with David O. Okonkwo, MD, PhD.

Dr. Puccio received her bachelor of science degree in neuroscience in 1988 and bachelor degree in nursing in 1994, both from the University of Pittsburgh. In 1995, she joined the Department of Neurological Surgery as a nurse coordinator on the National Acute Brain Injury Study: Hypothermia (NABIS:H) study and also the coordinator for the Brain Trauma Research Center.

Throughout her years of employment as a nurse coordinator, she pursued part-time advanced schooling to graduate with a master’s degree in nursing from the University of Pittsburgh in 2000 and as a university scholar (top 2% of class) from the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing with a doctoral degree, emphasis in neuroscience in 2008. Her dissertation, “Effect of short periods of normobaric hyperoxia on local brain tissue oxygenation and cerebrospinal fluid oxidative stress markers in severe traumatic brain injury” was published in the Journal of Neurotrauma in 2009.

Dr. Puccio was appointed assistant professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery in 2010 and received her adjunct faculty position with The School of Nursing, Department of Acute/Tertiary Care in 2010 with collaborations with Yvette Conley, PhD and Richard Henker, RN, PhD. She was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2022.

Dr. Puccio's publications can be reviewed through the National Library of Medicine's publication database.