Dr. Teresa J. Kelechi is the David and Margarget Clare Endowed Chair and a Professor in the College of Nursing, Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). She received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing Degree from Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, a Master of Science Degree in Gerontological Nursing from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, and a Doctoral Degree in Nursing from the University of South Carolina/Medical University of South Carolina. She is board certified by the American Nurses Credentialing Center as a Gerontological Clinical Nurse Specialist and by the Wound Ostomy Continence Nurses Society as a Certified Wound Care Nurse. Dr. Kelechi has been employed at MUSC since 1987 as a geriatric and wound care provider until 2001 when she joined the College of Nursing. Her primary focus as a nurse scientist is venous leg ulcer prevention. She also studies self-monitoring methods using infrared thermometry technology to detect subclinical evidence of ulcer development. She had been funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research to study the differences in skin temperature and blood flow of skin affected by chronic venous disorders and most recently was funded to study the impact of a cooling cuff on the development of leg ulcers. She is also studying a wound powder applied to wounds that develop at the end-of-life. In the past she has received grants from Marine Polymer Technologies to study an advanced wound healing technology, the American Nurses Foundation to study the temperature of skin affected by chronic venous disease, and the Wound Ostomy Continence Society to evaluate the effects of small movement exercises on leg strength in people with leg and foot ulcers.

Dr. Kelechi currently teaches in the PhD program at the College of Nursing. For her performance as educator, Dr. Kelechi was awarded the U.S Professor of Year by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and has received the Outstanding PhD Faculty Award, several Golden Lamp Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Education, and the Teaching Excellence Award and Educator-Mentor from the Health Sciences Foundation (MUSC), among others. Dr. Kelechi is the Director of Recruitment, SUCCESS Center, of the Clinical & Translational Science Award (CTSA), MUSC. She practices in a residential care facility, where she provides foot care and geriatric consultation. She is a frequently sought-after lecturer on topics related to aging, foot care, and wound prevention. She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and an active member of the Wound Ostomy Continence Nurses Society, Sigma Theta Tau International, Southern Nurses Research Society, Society for Vascular Nursing, and the American Nurses Association.

Aging, Inflammation, Nerve, Skin, Circulation, Diabetes, Exercise, Pain, Cancer, Cardiovascular, Cancer/Skin, Complementary Medicine, Vascular