VITAL SIGNS
VITAL SIGNS
Spring Lecture Series Highlights Exploring minority health, celebrating Black History Month certain neighborhoods ensured some groups were left behind, with mounting effects on their health, livelihood, life expectancy, and generational wealth. “It’s like you were going to play
Nurse Anesthesia Grads Achieve 100% Pass Rate Student prevails against all odds to realize her dream
Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable, M.D., presented “How Science Promotes Health Equity by Decreasing Disparities,” a virtual installment of the SONHS Spring Lecture Series in February. The director of the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) explained that telemedicine access, community engagement during public health crises, and efforts to address social determinants of health factors can impact health disparities. He also detailed NIMHD research priorities aimed at promoting health equity: implementing multilevel interventions, developing clinician- patient communication and trust, using structural change to modify behaviors, and identifying mechanisms such as biological pathways, the environment, and the health system. “It’s increasingly important to focus on intersectionality. Socioeconomic status, and race and
December 2022 graduates of the highly ranked B.S.N.-to-D.N.P. anesthesia track at SONHS are celebrating a newsworthy achievement: a 100 percent rst- time pass rate on the National Board of Certi cation and Recerti cation for Nurse Anesthetists (NBCRNA) National Certi cation Examination, the credentialing exam for Certi ed Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs). “As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded, the Class of ’22 faced unforeseen challenges,” says Greta Mitzova- Vladinov, SONHS associate professor of clinical and director of the Nurse Anesthesia Program. “Still, they kept up with their didactic and clinical teachings thanks to our faculty’s innovative teaching and engagement strategies.” For Catalina Majilton, D.N.P. ’22, COVID-related hardships were only the beginning. The single mom of two special needs kids knew completing the demanding three-year program would be grueling. With retinitis pigmentosa and no peripheral vision, her adolescent son, who is also on the autism spectrum, can’t drive a car or see at night. Her daughter, who has Zellweger spectrum disorder, is deaf, legally blind, and requires total care. Majilton sat down with her son and laid out the challenges. They’d have to sacri ce—downsize to a smaller apartment, live on a reduced income. “He said, ‘Mom, is this your dream? Then go for it!’” recalls Majilton. “He was my biggest supporter.” The family had almost made it to the nish line when Majilton’s mother was hospitalized with COVID-19, and Majilton suddenly found herself with no one to help care for her daughter.
Monopoly, but I said, ‘no, you can’t play yet, you have to wait,’” Dr. Pérez- Stable explained. “Then an hour into the game, after everyone’s already bought property and maybe even built houses and hotels, I say, ‘oh, now you can join.’ What kind of opportunity do you have with that?” At a watch party, graduate students and faculty had the chance to interact with Dr. Pérez-Stable about their own research interests. “Diversity of the workforce should be a priority,” he told them, adding that NIMHD offers opportunities such as its K award program and Summer Health Disparities Research Institute to increase the number of NIH-funded minority scientists.
Dr. Pérez-Stable
ethnicity as a social construct are the two pillars, and everything else rotates around it,” said Dr. Pérez-Stable, who earned his chemistry and medical degrees from the University of Miami. COVID-19 exacerbated long-standing disparities in minority communities nationwide, he added. Structural racism and economic barriers like “redlining”
From left, Dr. Hooshmand, Dr. Majilton, and Dean Munro
On Risk and Resilience
“I was missing classes, failing my regional anesthesia course,” she says. “I thought about dropping out of the program.” Ultimately, though, she reached out for help, and the SONHS community quickly rallied in support. “Dr. Mary Hooshmand helped me navigate the bene ts system and qualify for a home health aide,” says Majilton. “My professors guided me in the right direction—how to study, what books to use—and my classmates organized an online study group. I studied day and night, and I passed my nal and my oral board exams, too!” “Making it through the program isn’t easy even under the best of circumstances,” observes Dr. Hooshmand, associate dean for Graduate Clinical Programs, “but we have our students’ backs and make sure they have the resources they need to succeed.”
Her dream of becoming a doctorally prepared nurse anesthetist now realized, Dr. Majilton reports that she has accepted a clinical position as a CRNA at Stanford Hospital and relocated to California with her mother and daughter. Meanwhile her son—who graduated from high school the same year his mom earned her D.N.P.—continues his studies at the University of Central Florida. “It’s a happy ending!” she says. “My professors always challenged me to be the best I could be. By the end, I was a different person who had grown as a human being and professional. I can’t thank them enough.” Re ecting on her own journey, Dr. Majilton encourages anyone thinking about taking that next step to do it. “Don’t be afraid. There’s always a way,” she says. “Once you have a dream, nd the right people to support you, and nothing can hold you back.”
Last year, Dr. Cheryl Woods Giscombé purchased 42.5 acres in North Carolina that had belonged to her great- grandmother. She was captivated by a beautiful tree on the land. “It reminded me of what I study, which is how to resolve stress in a culturally relevant way through mindfulness,” she said during her February lecture at SONHS. “Mindfulness and self-compassion may be particularly effective to help African- American women and other groups who experience disproportionately high rates of chronic illness—particularly chronic illness that’s related to contextually relevant stressors.” Woods Giscombé, Ph.D., R.N., P.M.H.N.P.-B.C., F.A.A.N., a Distinguished Professor
Dr. Woods Giscombé (center) with Dr. Santos and Dean Munro at SONHS in February
at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing, shared insights from her important disparities- related research, including the African American Women’s Health Project, the Superwoman Schema Conceptual Framework, the We Can Prevent Diabetes mindfulness-based intervention study, and the Harmony study, a culturally relevant
stress management intervention for African-American women at high risk for cardiometabolic conditions. Harmony study participants, she noted, “wanted us to incorporate strategies to help them overcome the guilt of putting themselves rst.” A reception honoring Black History Month followed Woods Giscombé’s presentation.
8 heart beat | SPRING 2023
SPRING 2023 | heart beat 9
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