SCHOLAR DIRECTORY

I am currently a student at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) in the Nursing Science Doctor of Philosophy program under the mentorship of Dr. Alison Holman, Ph.D. and Dr. Steven Cramer, M.D. My interests within the arena of stroke research emanates from my professional career as a registered nurse, serving the population of Orange County through Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian. As an alumnus of the UCI’s Nursing Science Program, I was proficiently prepared to immerse into the clinical setting, providing strategically organized care as a surgical nurse. Subsequently, I seized the opportunity to transition into a care management role, serving as a discharge planning liaison between the inpatient and community settings. This opportunity uncovered my passion in providing both tailored education and individualized discharge strategies across a uniquely diverse population of post-stroke survivors. Health disparities in Orange County are evident in the real-world setting, lending to each individual requiring a distinct approach; it is this uniqueness that inspires my future study path. At Hoag Hospital, I served as a unit representative for Clinical Practice Council, collaborating with both nursing education and infection prevention in translating research into practice policy and protocol to reduce hospital-acquired infection rates. As an alumnus of UCI, I have earned both my B.S.N. in Nursing Science in 2013, Deans Honor List and B.S. in Biology in 2009, Deans Honor List. I served as a board member of the Alpha class in Alpha Tau Delta’s UCI chapter and continue mentoring undergraduate nursing students at UCI.

I am a DNP student at University of Wisconsin Oshkosh with an emphasis in Family Nurse Practice. I was inducted as a member of Sigma Theta Tau International and graduated Cum Laude from University of Wisconsin Oshkosh in 2014. I have worked as a nurse in critical care since graduation, currently working in a Neuro/Trauma Intensive Care Unit. I was raised in a rural Wisconsin town and dream of bringing improved healthcare access to rural communities upon graduation. I intend to practice upstream ideals with the goal of preventing chronic illness and managing preexisting conditions to keep patients from being hospitalized and ensure the best quality of life possible. I look forward to serving as a nurse leader in my community and hope to share my love of nursing by teaching and mentoring future nurses!

I am a PhD student at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing. I am currently a Bridges to the Doctorate student, an NIH-funded grant to increase the diversity of PhD-prepared faculty in nursing. I received my MSN at DePaul University in 2013, and have since been working as a staff nurse at Saint Anthony Hospital for the past 2 years. My experience there and my passion for patient education have inspired my research interest in the the empowerment of patients to improve their self-care. My dissertation research will focus on adults diagnosed with chronic illness and their perception of that illness (called illness representation, which includes concepts such as timeline, level of personal control, etc.) My hypothesis is that there are distinct clusters characterized by similar illness representation profiles which differentially predict self-care management, ER visits, and hospitalizations. I am particularly interested in whether persons with different diseases (COPD, kidney disease and heart failure) are equally represented across the different profiles. The results of my dissertation will inform future interventions that are tailored to specific illness representation profiles which are associated with positive or negative outcomes. As a student at DePaul, I was chosen to present a poster of my master’s research at the MNRS Conference in 2014. That project examined the relationship between the performance of proactive health behaviors and perceptions of their relative importance. I was selected to attend a summer research institute at the University of Pennsylvania in summer of 2016.

I love being a nurse. I began my studies at San Antonio College where I obtained my Associate Degree in Nursing. After which, I worked as a staff nurse in the medical surgical nursing area. After a few years, I then went back to school at The University of the Incarnate Word and received my Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree through the Adult Degree Completion Program. This program catered to the working professional. Prior to graduating from UIW, I made the transition from med-surg to behavioral health, working as a staff nurse and later nurse educator. I also received my Masters of Science in Nursing degree from UIW. I currently work at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio as a Clinical Assistant Professor teaching in the BSN program both traditional and accelerated students. I am a PhD Nursing student at the University of Texas at Arlington. My current research endeavors focus on community dwelling older adults with hypertension. It is my desire to explore alternative interventions like prayer and spirituality that can be used to improve the overall health and quality of life of this vulnerable population.

Sterling Roberts is a Georgia College and State University alumni. After graduating in 2003 with her Bachelor degree, Sterling went to work as a Registered Nurse in the Intensive Care Unit at Oconee Regional Medical Center (ORMC). Her professional history also includes work in pain management and emergent care. She has also served as the Nurse Manager of the Intermediate Care Unit and Dialysis services for ORMC. During this time, she co-developed and managed the Centralized Monitoring System for the organization. She was the recipient of the Outstanding Graduate Student Award for the School of Nursing in Spring 2016. She most recently completed her Masters in Nursing Education in May of this year. Sterling currently holds a float nurse position at ORMC, is a clinical instructor for the School of Nursing’s undergraduate program, and is working towards her Doctorate in Clinical Nursing Practice. Sterling is a member of the Theta Tau Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International.

Tamar is a board certified Family Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. She earned her Masters of Science Nursing Degree from the University of Vermont; after graduating from Dickinson State University with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. She has practiced in varied patient settings including geriatric and inpatient psychiatry. In her most recent clinical work she worked with patients in a neuro trauma setting. Her experiences there was a motivating factor to pursuing her PhD at Johns Hopkins. Her research focus looks at identifying biomarkers to aid in the screening process for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Veterans with traumatic brain injury. Tamar has an active extracurricular schedule and currently serves as the President of the Doctoral Students Association, the Executive Director for International Network for Doctoral Education in Nursing, the Nursing Student Representative for the Mental Health Task-Force for Johns Hopkins University and the student liaison for the Graduate Nursing Student Academy and is an active member of Sigma Theta Tau. Tamar’s goal is to be a leading nurse researcher and help transform the process by which PTSD diagnoses are made; which will hopefully make a positive impact on many lives.