SCHOLAR DIRECTORY

I am now completing my second year of the Nursing Science and Health-Care Leadership Doctor of Philosophy program at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis. I will take my Qualifying Exam in the fall in preparation for a qualitative dissertation exploring nurse educators’ perspectives about social justice and health equity in nursing education. My interviews will focus on their conceptualization of health equity, explore pedagogical approaches, and describe factors that shape how they incorporate principles of justice. Prior to becoming a nurse, I worked in public health and developed an understanding of the importance of local health departments in my work at the National Association of County and City Health Officials. My commitment to understanding and addressing structural inequities is largely rooted in my involvement in several community-based organizations serving various marginalized populations. During the past five years, I have been a clinical instructor and lecturer in programs across the SF Bay Area, most recently at California State University, East Bay (CSEUB). I will begin my appointment as a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Community Health Nursing at CSUEB in September. I will teach community health nursing theory and clinical courses for the traditional BSN and ADN-to-BSN programs. Moving forward, I aim to contribute to the integration of justice and equity in nursing education, broaden that understanding to patient outcomes, and further develop my ability to embody culturally relevant and critical education that privileges counter narratives and promotes healing.

I am enrolled in the Health Systems Leader DNP program at Seattle University. My interests include leadership in Healthcare, particularly in the delivery system of care. I achieved my Masters degree in Leadership and a certificate in Healthcare Management from Northeastern University. While attending Northeastern University, I was invited to join the Sigma Epsilon Rho honor society. Prior to that, I achieved my Bachelor’s degree in Nursing from the University of Massachusetts. My current role is Medical Center Manager for Group Health Cooperative. Within this role I oversee both Redmond and Bellevue Primary Care teams as well as our Redmond laboratory and radiology department. Prior to this role, I was the Clinical Operations Manager at Group Health Cooperative and had responsibility for our Bellevue Cardiology, Pulmonary, Sleep Disorders, Neurology, and Rheumatology clinics. Prior to working for Group Health, I worked as a Clinical Coordinator at Metrowest Medical Center in Framingham Massachusetts where I had 24/7 responsibility for a telemetry unit. In that role I also served as chair of the patient fall committee and also helped develop and open an 23 hour observation unit. My first job as a nurse, I worked at Lahey Clinic in Massachusetts as a staff nurse on a transplant unit. During my nearly 7 years on this unit, I achieved the Daisy Award after being nominated by a patients family.

I am a PhD student at Duke University School of Nursing. My primary research interest is to understand trajectory of parental role confidence in parents faced with caregiving challenges of having an infant with a complex chronic condition. My long-term goal is identify patterns among trajectories to better understand how interactions with the hospital environment, care delivery models, and individual factors influence the development of parenting confidence. This information will be used to develop targeted intervention strategies to increase parental psychological wellbeing and improve infant health and developmental outcomes. My academic training, research experience, and clinical background have built an excellent foundation for understanding the challenges associated with parenting the medically complex or high-risk infant both in and out of the hospital environment.

Michelle R. Varela received her Masters of Nursing with a focus on nursing education from Barry University in Florida after completing her undergraduate degree in nursing at Barry University. She is currently pursuing the PhD in nursing at the University of Minnesota. Throughout her nursing career Ms. Hamel has focused on nursing education and has been teaching in undergraduate nursing programs for the past four years. Ms. Varela’s research interest is in the area of narrative, or story telling. She is particularly interested in the therapeutic value of story telling within the Vietnam veteran population.

Kendra Varner is currently enrolled in a PhD program at the University of Cincinnati. Her research focus involves the overall health and wellbeing of new nurses during their transition to practice year. Kendra obtained her baccalaureate degree in 1996 from Wright State University, graduating summa cum laude. She worked in critical care both in hospital and pre-hospital environments for several years. With a passion for cross-cultural nursing and a preceptor experience sparking her interest in education, Kendra accepted a 2 year assignment as a missionary nurse educator in Uganda, East Africa. Returning home, she pursued a Master degree in nursing education from the University of Memphis, while working as adjunct faculty and in critical care for the Baptist Health system. She received recognition from the Loewenberg School of Nursing faculty as an outstanding nurse educator student. In 2009, Kendra graduated and became a nurse residency program coordinator. With her passion for nursing and education united, new nurse transition became a career focus. In 2011, Kendra started the LinkedIn GrRN group for new nurses, which has over 17,000 members worldwide. She was a site coordinator for the landmark NCSBN Transition to Practice Study, and has published several articles related to nurse transition. She has worked both in academia and staff development, as well as patient education for the Kettering Health Network, while engaging in doctoral studies. Kendra’s future goals include working new nurses in critical need areas of the United States, as well as nursing programs in underdeveloped nations.

In 2014, Ashley Vaughan graduated with honors from the Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing. After graduation, her desire to work with families led her to work in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at UNC Hospitals. Before becoming a nurse, Ms. Vaughan obtained a Master of Science in Nutrition at Meredith College. This experience peaked her interest in chronic disease prevention and management, and also gave her an appreciation for research and evidence-based practice. Ms. Vaughan returned to the UNC Chapel Hill School of Nursing in 2015 to pursue a PhD, and received the NRSA/NINR National Service Pre-doctoral Training Award for Interventions for Preventing and Managing Chronic Illness. Ms. Vaughan is interested in how families adapt to having a child with a chronic condition, with a focus on the influence of sociocultural factors on family management of chronic conditions. She plans to examine how experiences unique to military families, such as deployment and relocation, influence how families manage childhood chronic conditions. Ms. Vaughan is involved with research projects at the UNC School of Nursing including Dr. Marcia Van Riper’s mixed-methods study entitled ‘Adaptation and resilience in families of individuals with Down syndrome’ and Dr. Ruth Anderson’s qualitative study titled ‘Predictive decision-making for intensive care therapies.’ Ms. Vaughan’s goal is to become an academic nurse scientist, and she hopes her research will provide nurses and other healthcare professionals with tools to help families prevent and manage chronic conditions.

Laura Velli is currently a Doctorate in Nursing Practice student at New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing. Laura earned her Master of Science degree from the Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program at Vanderbilt University. She earned her Bachelor of Science from the Accelerated Second Degree Nursing program at Rutgers University where she tutored other nursing students with the Center for Academic Success. Laura also received her first undergraduate degree in English from Rutgers University. Laura’s commitment to the behavioral health population blossomed when she volunteered at Carrier Clinic as an undergraduate nursing student. Since then, she has cared for patients in a variety of psychiatric clinical settings such as child and adolescent, adult, geriatric, voluntary, and involuntary inpatient units. Laura is a compassionate clinician and dedicated to improving the quality of care that clients with psychiatric illnesses receive. As an MSN student she completed a quality improvement project focused on increasing utilization of long acting injectable antipsychotic medications in the community mental health outpatient setting. She plans to continue this effort in her advanced practice nursing care. Laura is a member of the esteemed Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society, the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, and the New York Advanced Practice Nurses Association.