Category: Spotlights

Michael Drake is a 4th year BSN student, and the recipient of the 2021 Queen Silvia Nursing Award, hosted by the Queen of Sweden. Drake’s idea for the award is a platform that allows patients and their caregivers to easily share information with medical providers. His areas of interest include acute care, palliative care, end of life care Why did you choose nursing? Years ago, my mother was diagnosed with a terminal illness. I quit my job and school to…

Meaghan Oakes is one of the de Tornyay Center for Healthy Aging’s 2021-2022 Healthy Aging Doctoral Scholars. Oakes’ de Tornyay Center project is “Improving Advance Care Planning within the Geriatrics Department at Confluence Health”, and her faculty mentor is Dr. Katie Kemble. What are your areas of interest? My areas of interest are family practice and health across the lifespan. I like the idea of watching patients grow, whether they’re elderly and grow into old age or they’re young and…

Lia Kaluna is the de Tornyay Center for Healthy Aging’s 2021-2022 Germaine Krysan Undergraduate Scholar. A fourth year BSN student, her project is Identifying Key Landmarks of Central District’s Historically Black Neighborhoods. The project is a part of the Seattle SHARP study. SHARP Portland was originally developed by Raina Croff, PhD, an anthropologist at Oregon Health State University. A local team is now developing SHARP Seattle based on the findings from Dr. Croff and her team. Kaluna’s faculty mentor is…

Claire Kane is the de Tornyay Center for Healthy Aging’s 2021-2022 Myrene C. McAninch Undergraduate Scholar. Kane’s areas of interest are nurse-midwifery, women veterans, perinatal substance use disorder. Her de Tornyay Center project is, “Exploring Women Veteran’s Experiences of Substance Use Disorder Treatment in the Puget Sound Veterans Affairs Healthcare System: A Mixed Methods Approach”, and her faculty mentor is Dr. Ira Kantrowitz-Gordon. Why did you choose nursing? My background is in perinatal substance use disorder treatment, so the treatment…

France Chu is one of the de Tornyay Center for Healthy Aging’s 2021-2022 Healthy Aging Doctoral Scholars. A PhD in Nursing Science Student, Chu’s areas of interest are technology for older adults and implementation science, as well as health literacy and information management. Her de Tornyay Center project is “Implementing Task Sharing of Tele-mental Interventions in Primary Care”, and her mentors are Drs. Oleg Zaslavsky, Erin Abu-Rish Blakeney, and Brenna Renn (University of Nevada). Why did you choose to go…

Dr. Hyejin Kim is a post-doctoral scholar with the School of Nursing. She is working with Dr. Azita Emami and researchers at the Karolinska Insitute in Sweden to study stress and music therapy in people with dementia and their caregivers.  Why did you choose nursing? There was no question. I always wanted to make a difference as a nurse. I worked as a nurse in South Korea in the neurology and organ transplantation units. I was responsible for making the…

Sarah McKiddy is a first year PhD in Nursing Science student and the de Tornyay Center’s 2021 pre-doctoral scholar. Her faculty mentor is Basia Belza. Her research interests include neurocognitive disorders, healthy equity, and building the evidence to support music as a therapeutic intervention. Why did you choose nursing? Through a culmination of my mom’s cancer treatment years ago and the quest for more engagement with my community, I viewed nursing as a field with opportunities to continually self-reflect and…

Shumenghui Zhai is a third-year PhD in Nursing Science Student. She was awarded the 2021 Western Institute of Nursing Carol A. Lindeman Award for a New Researcher for her work, the first UW student or faculty to win the award since 2008. Her dissertation is about tech-enabled solutions for sleep research in children with chronic conditions and their caregivers. Hui’s dissertation faculty mentor is Teresa Ward. What made you choose nursing? Most of my family members are healthcare professionals. My…