SCHOLAR DIRECTORY

Kalisha Bonds was born and raised in rural, west Tennessee by her grandmother. She received her BSN from the University of Tennessee at Martin in 2007. Upon completion, she began working at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in Adolescent Medicine. Ms. Bonds’s passion for psychiatry burgeoned; she graduated from Vanderbilt University with a concentration in Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner in 2012. Soon after graduation, she started working with geriatric populations in long-term care facilities providing medication management and therapy with Wellness Solutions Inc. One year later, she was promoted to training new hires while maintaining a smaller caseload. This experience influenced her current decision to research concerns she observed in clinical practice. Kalisha is enrolled in the PhD program at Oregon Health & Science University with a focus in African American persons with dementia and health equality.