ALUMNI DIRECTORY

I have just completed my second year, and all required coursework, at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing (UC Davis) Nursing Science and Health-Care Leadership Doctor of Philosophy program. This September I will take my Qualifying Exam, and then begin my qualitative dissertation research on school district health administrator’s roles, work processes, and leadership skills. My interview study will also explore participating SHAs’ strategies for securing resources and advocating for student health programs in the context of limited funding and competing priorities within California school districts. My background is in school and community health programs. I have served as a health educator, health trainer, school nurse, pediatric nurse practitioner, school-based health center(SBHC) director, and school health technical assistance provider for 20 years. For the past seven years I have helped school districts and community health providers plan, implement, and improve school health programs, especially SBHCs. In August, I will begin a new, tenure-track position as Assistant Professor of Community Health Nursing at Sacramento State University. In this role, I will teach community health nursing in our BSN program, and pediatric assessment in our school nurse credential program. I have served in numerous leadership roles, including: • National Assembly on School-Based Health Care; Technical Assistance and Training Advisory Panel • Oakland USD Community Schools Task Force and Chair of School Nurse Council • California Coordinated School Health Steering Committee • California Schools Environmental Health and Asthma Collaborative • California School Nurses Organization, Conference Program Committee Co-Chair and Bay Coast Section Board Member at Large

Major Daniel Blaz is a board certified Family Nurse Practitioner in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps and has been on active duty for 16 years. He attended The University of Akron, graduating as a Distinguished Military Graduate receiving his Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1998. He went on to receive a Master of Science in Nursing from the Uniformed Services University (USU) in 2006. Major Blaz deployed with the 520th Area Support Medical Company to Camp Victory, Iraq in 2008 and was forwardly deployed as a team leader of a small medical contingency team at Camp Taji, Iraq. He is currently assigned as faculty in the USU Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing and is currently working on the completion of his Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He previously served as the Assistant Deputy Director at the Army Physical Fitness Research Institute Command and General Staff College Annex, Fort Leavenworth, KS. While there, he assisted with overseeing a diverse interdisciplinary care team that performed executive health and fitness assessments on senior military leaders. Through this assignment he is uniquely qualified to educate strategic leaders on the relationship among leadership, health, and fitness. His research focus is on health and fitness interventions in military service members and veterans and using an interdisciplinary approach in primary care. He is a current member of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, the Ohio Association of Advanced Practice Nurses, and Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society of Nursing.