SCHOLAR DIRECTORY

My name is Cynthia McCormack and I am a Vermont native and nurse of 5 years. I have a background in critical care nursing and nursing education. I am passionate about global health and have focused much of my education and service work in global health nursing. My studies have brought me to Bangladesh, Belize, Ecuador, Rwanda, and Nicaragua. In Rwanda I provided post-operative nursing care to patients receiving heart valve replacements. This service work was a very tangible, rewarding experience for me and I plan to return to this project in the future. My research interests center around improving access to healthcare in developing countries where access is otherwise challenging. My most recent service trip to Nicaragua offered an opportunity to provide basic health services to impoverished communities via mobile clinics. I am continually engaged by what is possible and what is most needed in some of the developing countries where I have worked. Over the years I have built relationships with colleagues in the global health field and am looking forward to focusing my PhD research in this realm. I want to thank the University of Massachusetts at Amherst for selecting me as a Jonas Scholar and thank the Jonas Foundation for all of the fantastic support offered.

Shantia McCoy-Jones has 20 years’ experience in nursing and began her career in critical care however she realized early in her career her passion was education and wound care. Shantia returned to school and earned a Master of Science degree in Adult Health Nurse Practitioner and post masters in Family Nurse Practitioner; Nursing Education; and Wound, Ostomy and Continence nursing from La Salle University. Upon completing her advanced education, she began teaching undergraduate and graduate nursing as an Assistant Professor. Shantia is doctoral candidate (PhD) Nursing Science at Widener University School of Nursing and currently serves as the Education/Wound Care Specialist at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veterans Affairs (CMCVA) Medical Center/Community Living Center (CLC) in Philadelphia, PA. Shantia’s passion for veterans’ health and wound care management lead her to the VA where she currently manages veterans with skin and wound complications. She serves as chapter president for Nursing Organization of Veteran Affairs (NOVA) and Chair of the CMCVAMC Skin and Pressure Ulcer/Injury Committee. Shantia assisted in the development of a new mobile application for veterans and caregivers called the VA Pressure Ulcer/Injury Resource (VA PUR). Shantia’s dissertation research will use the VA PUR mobile application to examine the impact of mobile technology education on decreasing pressure ulcer risk in veteran populations with spinal cord and polytrauma injury. She hopes to use her research to educate nursing students and nurses on the use of mobile technology to improve health outcomes of veterans with spinal cord and polytrauma injury.

Kelly McGlothen, BSN, RN, IBCLC, CIMI graduated with a BSN from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, School of Nursing in 2012. She is currently a PhD student at UTHSCSA. Her research interests include incorporating a socio-historical lens into investigating the effects of stress and trauma on the transition to motherhood and infant and child development. Her research and clinical practice aims are to work with vulnerable families to encourage maternal mental health, support positive mother-infant relationships, and to promote optimal infant and child social-emotional development. She hopes to utilize this research to create culturally and contextually appropriate maternal-child behavioral promotion programs. Ms. McGlothen became an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) and Certified Infant Massage Instructor in 2013, and currently works in this capacity at University Hospital in San Antonio, TX.

I am currently a student in the PhD program in the College of Nursing at Villanova University. My research interests are focused on the impact of simulation and debriefing in the education of nurse anesthesia students. My dissertation focus is on comparing two methods of debriefing in simulation with nurse anesthesia students. I have been adjunct faculty in the Villanova University/Crozer Chester Medical Center Nurse Anesthesia program and have taught primarily in the simulation laboratory since 2010. I graduated with an MSN from MCP Hahnemann University in 2000 and a post-master’s in Nurse Anesthesia and Nurse Education in 2009. I actively practice as a CRNA and have been employed as a CRNA at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in Philadelphia, PA since 2009.

Katherine Mead is a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Nursing. She received a BSN from Saint Louis University in 2014, a Diploma in Nursing from Lutheran School of Nursing in 2010, and a BA in Geography from the University of Minnesota in 2008. Ms. Mead has practiced nursing in home health, long-term care, acute-care geriatrics, and community health settings. Ms. Mead is currently the Co-Chair of the Older Adult Working Group in the national Physical Activity Policy Research Network (PAPRN+) and is also a member of the Midwest Nursing Research Society and Sigma Theta Tau. Her research focuses on understanding the multi-level factors that influence older adults’ physical activity behavior and physical functioning.

Heidy Merius’ passion is nursing leadership that transforms the community. After graduating magna cum laude from Stony Brook University with a BS in Biology she enrolled in a Sleep Technician Certification Program, but realized that it was not fulfilling. It was after her graduation from the Accelerated Nursing Program at Stony Brook University and selection as an NCIN scholarship recipient that her desire to see the community as a whole elevated. During her young 4 years as a nurse she worked at Stony Brook Medicine’s surgical intensive care unit and cerebrovascular center and NSLIJ Southside’s Radiology Department. Her involvement in critical areas of a patient’s life has given her the determination to want to prevent that for her patients. She is now enrolled in Stony Brook University’s Post-Baccalaureate to Doctorate in Nursing Program for Adult Gerontologic Health. This past summer Heidy has been elected as a 2015 Paul Ambrose Scholar where she will be implementing a community project that addresses the Healthy People 2020’s Leading Health Indicator Mental Health. Heidy also serves as a department head in her church organization where she teaches children ages 3 to 7 and has been on the 2015 Women’s Weekend Event Committee. More recently Heidy has been participating on the NCIN Steering Committee where she hopes to assist in furthering vision of the organization.

Nick Metheny is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Centre for Urban Health Solutions, St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, Ontario. He completed his PhD in Nursing Science at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 2019. He holds a Master of Public Health (MPH) in Global Health Policy from The George Washington University, a BA in Public Health at The College of William and Mary, and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Pennsylvania. Nick’s research interests center on Global Health, focusing specifically on the study of intimate partner violence against marginalized populations in the North America and low- and middle-income countries. He is more broadly interested in the prevention of intimate partner violence and its clinical sequelae through structural, community-based interventions.

Caroline Meza is a PhD student in the College of Nursing at Seton Hall University. Her research interests include ethical and cultural issues in nursing. She received her MSN degree in nursing education from William Paterson University, her BA degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University, and her nursing diploma from Holy Name Hospital School of Nursing. Caroline’s past clinical experience includes working in cardiac, medical-surgical, home care and emergency nursing. Her leadership experience includes roles as clinical coordinator and clinical education specialist in emergency nursing. She is currently a nursing instructor at Holy Name Medical Center School of Nursing, motivating and preparing nursing students to become dedicated, skillful and talented nurses. Caroline serves on several nursing education and hospital committees, participating in initiatives to improve student retention, improve culturally competent care, and assisting in the development of policies and procedures for nursing education and patient services. As a Latina and nurse educator, she aspires to be a resounding voice, role model and mentor for current and future minority nursing students and faculty. As a faculty mentor she mentors MSN students from various graduate nursing programs. She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau International Gamma Nu Chapter, National League for Nursing, National Association of Hispanic Nurses and the Emergency Nurses Association. As a volunteer member of the N. J. Medical Reserve Corp., Caroline is prepared to respond to public emergencies. She lives in Saddle Brook, N. J. with her family.