SCHOLAR DIRECTORY

Jessie will graduate from Vanderbilt University’s MSN program in July 2016 and immediately begin her PhD studies at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. Her research interests include factors that contribute to dementia onset and progression, including lifestyle diseases such a diabetes and obesity. She currently works as a research assistant at Vanderbilt School of Nursing in oncology research, and this has prepared her well to begin PhD studies this Fall. She was awarded the Morrison Scholarship for her academic achievements in the MSN program at VUSN and looks forward to serving as a nurse leader throughout her career.

Shattuck is a Nurse Corps lieutenant commander with the United States Navy. She currently serves as the emergency/trauma critical care clinical nurse specialist and acute care nurse practitioner at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Shattuck served as the first clinical nurse specialist for the emergency/trauma department and became board-certified licensed, and credentialed as an acute care nurse practitioner. In this role, she expanded her scope of practice as a provider and worked alongside attending emergency department physicians. In 2003, Shattuck was deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. 2015 She was deployed in support of Continuing Promise providing humanitarian and civil assistance in 11 South American countries. She has a BSN from Niagara University and an MS and a post Masters in Teaching and Health Professions from University of Maryland. LCDR Shattuck is currently enrolled in Duke University DNP program.

I am an Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. My research focuses on health outcomes in children born with prenatal substance exposure. My dissertation was titled, The Long-term Effects of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome on Neurodevelopmental Health Outcomes. I am currently completing a concurrent post-doctoral fellowship in the College of Medicine at the University of Kentucky addressing the use, and subsequent outcomes, of non-opioid medications to manage newborn withdrawal.

Susan Shenkosky graduated from Madonna University in 2005 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. As an RN she spent 6 years working in the emergency department and cardiothoracic intensive care unit where she obtained certifications in ACLS, BLS, PALS, TNCC, ENPC and CCRN. Ms. Shenkosky then received her Masters of Science in Anesthesiology from the University of Southern California and became a certified registered nurse anesthetist. While working as a faculty CRNA she provides clinical instruction to student registered nurse anesthetists and other health care professionals. She is a member of CANA and AANA and serves on several committees within her department focusing on education, process improvements and staff recognition and morale. Ms. Shenkosky will be starting the Southern California CSU DNP Consortium program in August of 2016 where her capstone project will focus on improving the peri-operative patient hand-off process. After which she plans to use her DNP education to take on a greater role as an educator in both the didactic and clinical setting as well as continue developing process improvement projects to advance patient care.

Danielle Siclovan MSN, RN, NE-BC has almost 20 years of experience in the nursing field in acute care, procedural area/Operating Room, and the ambulatory setting specializing in Neurosurgery. Danielle has spent 13 years in hospital leadership as the Director of Neuroscience Nursing at a large academic medical center in Milwaukee, WI. It was while in this position that Danielle found her passion for clinical leadership and quality improvement. Leveraging this interest, Danielle has spent the last two years in Risk Management approaching healthcare quality improvement from another perspective. Danielle received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Marquette University in 1997 followed by her Master of Science in Nursing in 2008. Danielle is currently in the PhD in Nursing program at Marquette University and anticipates her graduation in 2018. Danielle is a member of Sigma Theta Tau International Delta Gamma At-Large Chapter in Milwaukee WI. She actively volunteers her time with the Wisconsin-1 Disaster Medical Assistance Team providing healthcare to disaster stricken areas.

Amanda Simonton is a third year doctoral student who received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (’13) from the University of Texas at Austin (UT). She is also a first year Master’s student in the Psych/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program. Her research area of interest is mental health promotion with an emphasis on reducing substance abuse and improving recovery from addictive substances. Her long-term professional goal is to become a tenure-track faculty member within a top-tier research-oriented nursing school. She wants to contribute to leading-edge research, health care policy changes, and the education of an expanding population of graduate-trained nurses. Amanda currently works as a teaching assistant/graduate research assistant at the UT School of Nursing and is a Registered Nurse in the Seton Psychiatric Emergency Department at University Medical Center Brackenridge Hospital. She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau, the Southern Nursing Research Society, and the Association of Nurses in Graduate School. Last year, she was the Doctoral Student Representative for the Association of Nurses in Graduate School. During her time as a graduate student at UT, Amanda has maintained a 4.0 GPA and has received multiple fellowships and scholarships through the university. She plans to use the experiences gained through the Jonas Nurse Leaders Scholar Program to become an effective nurse leader, educator, clinician and researcher in healthcare.

After obtaining my BSN, MSN, and DNP degrees, I chose to pursue a PhD in nursing to further scientific knowledge on health outcomes of caregivers for persons with Alzheimer’s disease. My interest in this program of research is from my personal and family experiences, as a caregiver of my grandmother with Alzheimer’s disease. Since enrolling in this program I have attended several conferences/seminars for persons with Alzheimer’s disease and the aging population. In addition to my job as an assistant professor, I am a research assistant on an NIA study focused on persons with dementia and their care partners. I also serve on two ACT on Alzheimer’s groups for African Americans and West Africans in Minnesota.