Dr. Lisanti’s research program is dedicated to understanding the influence of IFDC on infants with congenital heart disease and their families. Specifically, her research aims to better understand the family-centered aspect of IFDC by examining biobehavioral mechanisms that influence parent mental health in parents of infants with congenital heart disease, with the ultimate goal of discovering biological and psychosocial links between parent mental health and child developmental outcomes.

She is investigating the biobehavioral mechanisms that influence infant and parent stress, with the ultimate goal of discovering biological and psychosocial links between infant early life stress, parent stress symptoms, and child developmental outcomes.

As a clinical nurse specialist, she has several peer-reviewed publications discussing best practices and novel strategies to improve patient care. Most notably, her papers on IFDC were the first to describe the need for this paradigm shift within the pediatric cardiac population. Dr. Lisanti is considered a national expert on IFDC for infants with congenital heart disease and have been invited as a keynote speaker, guest lecturer, and consultant to several children's hospitals and conferences across the country.

Lisanti is leader of the “Infant and Maternal Stress and Attachment in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit: A Pilot Study” funded by the American Nurses Foundation, Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN), and Stryker Medical Research Award.

BSN, University of Pittsburgh (1997)

MSN. Widener University (Clinical Nurse Specialist), 2007

PhD, Widener University (Nursing Science), 2007

Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Postdoctoral Fellow, Research on Vulnerable Women, Children, and Families, T32, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, 2014-2017

Nurse Scientist

Clinical Nurse Specialist

Chief Nursing Officer Patient Safety Award, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, 2014, 2015

Pediheart: Pediatric Cardiology Today (Podcast, December 2018)