SCHOLAR DIRECTORY

I am currently pursuing a PhD in Nursing Science and Health-Care Leadership at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis. My current research interests involve leveraging technology to assist nurses in the early prevention, detection, and treatment of delirium symptoms within the geriatric inpatient population. I received my MS in Nursing Science and Health-Care Leadership from the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis in 2015, my BSN from California State University, Sacramento in 2011, and my BA in Molecular & Cell Biology from UC Berkeley in 2008. I was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, Alpha Chapter of California at UC Berkeley and the Sigma Theta Tau International honor society, Zeta-Eta-at-Large chapter at California State University, Sacramento. I have worked as a orthopedic/trauma nurse at UC Davis Medical Center since 2011 and earned a national certification in medical-surgical nursing in 2014. I serve as a unit facilitator for the New Graduate Residency Program to assist new graduates in their transition to professional nursing practice. I am an Adjunct Clinical Instructor in medical-surgical nursing for Samuel Merritt University and am a member of the National Association of Orthopedic Nurses and the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses. At UC Davis, I currently serve as a PhD cohort representative for the Graduate Health Professionals Council and have previously served on the health-system wide Quality & Safety Committee and as co-chair of my unit-based nurse practice council.

My name is Kirsten Dickins. I am the inaugural Postdoctoral Fellow in Nursing Research at the Yvonne L. Munn Center for Nursing Research at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Here, I am work with a team of nursing and other interdisciplinary scientists to better understand opportunities for intervention at the intersection of physical, mental, and social determinants of health, specifically, among aging homeless women. My core interests are in health promotion and disease prevention, disease prevention, and individual and community engagement in vulnerable, often-underserved populations. Prior to beginning my postdoctoral fellowship, I earned my PhD from Rush University College of Nursing; my dissertation focused on primary care access and use among homeless persons in Chicago, Illinois. By training I am a family nurse practitioner and social worker, last working at the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Care Program, as well as the Supportive Release Center at Cook County Jail.

I am a certified nurse-midwife and registered nurse. I will join the PhD Nursing program at Augusta University in Fall 2016, where I hope to begin building a research program exploring reproductive health, sexual behaviors, and risk-taking in adolescent and young adult women in my community. I am passionate about the role of nursing in achieving social justice and closing healthcare disparities and hope to build on the extant body of nursing philosophy. Before my transition into nursing, I completed my BS at Georgia Institute of Technology in Science, Technology, and Culture as well as an MA in Women’s History at Sarah Lawrence College. I secured my MSN at Augusta University in 2009 as a pre-licensure student and have practiced in the Emergency and Shock/Trauma setting since graduation. Always drawn to midwifery, I graduated from Frontier Nursing University in 2015 with an MSN in midwifery. I hope to draw on skills and knowledge forged through all the various aspects of my education in my PhD studies.

As a child, I always knew I wanted to be successful. Being the first generation-born to attend college in my family meant a lot to me and it still does. Becoming acquainted with education was the best decision I’ve ever made in my life. I am grateful to have been raised to value education and patiently pursue all the goals my heart desired. I am 29 years old, I have my Master’s in Nursing, Associate Degree in Nursing, BA in Psychology, and last year obtained a Certification in Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing. After graduating, my first facility of employment was BHC Alhambra Hospital (Psychiatric facility). During the four years of my employment I was able to serve in many leadership roles such as, House Supervisor, Unit Manager, and Assistant Director of Nursing. I enjoyed being a leader and being a catalyst for a change , but wanted to experience a different area of nursing. Currently, I am employed at the VA in West LA as an RN Care Manager in Primary Care. I strive for greatness and excellence in my nursing career in which the path I’ve taken in my nursing career is a perfect example of that. I am determined, self-driven, hardworking, eager to learn, and most of all dedicated to achieving the goals I set.

Sara Donevant became interested in a nursing career after caring for family members with chronic illnesses. In 2006, she graduated with an ADN at Horry-Georgetown Technical College and received the Academic Excellence Award. Since acquiring her initial degree, she completed a BSN at University of South Carolina Upstate and acquired nursing experience in a hospital-based medical/surgical and critical care unit, geriatric case management, and quality improvement management. During of her career, Sara became interested in healthcare informatics, and participated several informatic projects in the critical care units including electronic documentation and linking bedside monitors with the hospital’s electronic health record. For the past three years, she has explored the literature involving mHealth apps for chronic health management while completing her MSN in Nursing Informatics at University of Maryland. Sara is currently pursuing a PhD at University of South Carolina with a focus on mHealth. Recently, she became the graduate research assistant for Dr. Joan Culley’s R01 National Institutes of Health/National Library of Medicine grant Validating Triage for Chemical Mass Casualty Incidents – A First Step, which explores the use of a computer-based informatics tool to improve early chemical identification and to enhance patient triage in the emergency department following a chemical mass casualty incident. She also achieved her CCRN certification through the American Association of Critical Care Nurses and was inducted into Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society at University of South Carolina. Sara also serves as board member for Little River Medical Center, a community health center in SC.