NPHF/Procter & Gamble Endowed Scholarship in Community Service

2023-2024 Winner

Christa Davison, MSN, RN, PHN, FNP-C

Christa is currently in the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program at California State University Fullerton in Fullerton, CA. She has been working in the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health as the Assistant Nursing Director of more than 70 nurses in a mobile vaccine nurse team. The team provides lifesaving vaccines to tens of thousands of individuals including the many different COVID-19 vaccine products during the pandemic. She recently developed a DPH mobile disease screening program that includes screening of STDs, TB, and Hepatitis B &C in the high risk in the Los Angeles community. In the future, Christa envisions the team linking homeless individuals and those with a history of substance abuse to treatment services. Another one of her team's goals is to hire a street nurse practitioner to treat acute illness at mobile locations such as homeless encampments.

Exemplifying extraordinary leadership to make an impact on her community, as well as a commitment to treating and screening homeless patients with substance use disorders, viral hepatitis A, B, and C. Christa is well-deserving of the NPHF/Proctor & Gamble Community Scholarship Award.

2022-2023 Winner

Photo of Sarah Kim Sarah Kim MSN, RN, CNL is currently a DNP Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner student at the University of Washington, Seattle, WA, with a GPA of 4.0.

For the past five years, Sarah has worked as a psychiatric mental health nurse in acute inpatient and community outpatient settings. Her underserved population of patients are particularly vulnerable as they have mental health needs that are often co-occurring with substance use disorders and chronic medical conditions.

She is currently developing her DNP project of a HIV and viral hepatitis A, B, and C screening tool and referral plan for a mental health setting. She plans to partner with different community health clinics HIV/AIDS programs to increase access to medical care for patients. Her vision for her future practice is an integrated care model with primary care providers.

Exemplifying extraordinary leadership to make an impact on her community, as well as a commitment to treating underserved patients with mental health disorders, substance use disorders, HIV, viral hepatitis A, B, and C. Sarah is well-deserving of the NPHF/Proctor & Gamble Community Scholarship Award.

2021-2022 Winners

Dana_Seated__Websize_DSCF2166 (002).jpg Dana Stallings DNP(C), FNP-C, CDCES, BC-ADM is currently a Doctor of Nursing Practice student at Old Dominion University Virginia Beach, VA and is set to graduate May 2022. Dana is in the process of opening the first nurse practitioner-owned diabetes clinic in the Western Tidewater region of southeast Virginia located in the "Diabetes Belt" of the US. People who live in the diabetes belt are more likely to have type 2 diabetes than people who live in other parts of the US. The clinic will address the lack of high-quality, cost-effective, patient-centered diabetes management despite a higher-than-average prevalence of diabetes and obesity related condition”. She recently launched her new website, which you can view here: http://www.southsidediabetesva.com.

Exemplifying extraordinary leadership to make an impact on her community, as well as a commitment to diabetes treatment is rural underserved patients. Dana is well-deserving of the NPHF/Proctor & Gamble Community Scholarship Award.

Mindy Beck Headshot .jpg Mindy Beck, RN is currently a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Student at Herzing University in Madison, WI and is set to graduate December 2022. Mindy has worked at a county jail in Pinal County, Arizona for over the past four years. She is currently working at a juvenile facility with young adults who are lost and are experiencing hardships in their lives. They have been exposed to trauma, physically, emotionally, and/or sexually. Many do not have parents and are being cared for by the state. They have substance abuse problems. Mindy helps them understand that the experience's in their lives are not their fault. She instills hope by supporting them to change their ways and giving them goal-oriented tasks to promote a better future. She provides optimism and support that they may not have received before. “As the mental health trends continue to worsen with the pandemic contributing, I hope to make a difference one person at a time and help as many people as I possibly can. Substance abuse has a major impact on mental health”.

Exemplifying extraordinary leadership to make a positive impact on her community, as well as a commitment to the treatment of substance abuse and mental health in underserved youth, Mindy is well-deserving of the NPHF/Proctor & Gamble Community Scholarship Award.

2020-2021 Winner

Madeline R Lepore, BSN, RN

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Madeline R Lepore, BSN, RN is completing her DNP in the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Program at the University of Pittsburgh and currently works as a Psychiatric Nurse in the Dual Diagnosis Inpatient Unit at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. She dedicates her personal time to volunteering underserved at Prevention Point Pittsburgh, a needle exchange program for people with substance abuse disorder, LGBTQIA and the homeless. She created a DNP project focused on syringe stigmatization and discrimination with a goal of expanding access to sterile injection and services for these underserved populations. She is passionate about recovery, safe substance use, gender affirming care, homeless youth, and bi-polar disorder. After graduation she plans to focus her practice on street psychiatry in her hometown Pittsburg.

Exemplifying extraordinary leadership to make a positive impact on her community, as well as a commitment to advance the mental health of the most chronically underserved populations, Madeline is well-deserving of the NPHF/Proctor & Gamble Community Scholarship Award.

2019-2020 Winner

Loyda Braithwaite, MSN, RN, AGPCNP-BC, AOCNP, ACHPn

Loyda Braithwaite is an Oncology Nurse Practitioner at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center. She has over 15 years of nursing experience, and has dedicated most of her career to cancer care. She was born and raised in Panama, where she obtained a BSN from the University of Panama. In 2009 she moved to the Unites States, and in 2015 obtained a MSN in Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner with Oncology Specialty from Loyola University Chicago. She is currently a PhD-Nursing student at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

As a Nurse Practitioner, Loyda specializes in the management of patients with solid malignancies and is currently the NP for the Breast Cancer team at the UW-Carbone Cancer Center. Ms. Braithwaite is dually certified as an Advanced Oncology and Hospice & Palliative Care NP.

Being an immigrant inspired Ms. Braithwaite to dedicate her career to cancer care in underserved and minority populations. This has led to serval opportunities for service, education, and volunteering nationally and internationally. Currently, she leads the only Hispanic Breast Cancer Support Group in Dane County, WI, and is a co-investigator/spanish-speaking recruiter for the Patient Experience USA (Breast Cancer) research project. She has volunteered as a clinician in orthopedic surgeries for low-income patients and in rural communites in Latin America, as well as an oncology nurse educator for nurses in Panama, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, and Columbia.

As a nurse scientist, she envisions a research career focused on cancer care disparities, more specifically understanding the needs of Hispanic and Latino patients. She is particularly interested in immigration status as a social determinant of health in cancer care. As a PhD-prepared nurse, she aims to reduce disparities in cancer care among Hispanic and Latino patients in her community and abroad, as well as to advance the nursing science through research, education, and public policy advocacy.