By Erica Techo
Several University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing students and faculty have received scholarships from the Alabama Nurses Foundation. This year’s scholarships were awarded to both nursing students and nurses who returned to school to further their education, supporting the nurses of tomorrow as they pursue educational opportunities.
Recipients include:
Instructor and PhD student Elizabeth Coleman, RN, MSN, will use the scholarship while completing her PhD. Coleman’s topic of interest is the association between adiposity, self-esteem and depressive symptoms in ethnically and racially diverse early adolescents.
MSN student Megan Morris, RN, BSN, is pursuing her Dual Certified Primary/Acute Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner degree from the UAB School of Nursing and upon graduation, she plans to work at a critical shortage facility in a health professional shortage area in order to improve the health of underserved and low-income communities.
Adjunct Instructor and DNP student Samantha Weaver, MSN, CPNP-AC, CNRN (MSN 2012), will use this scholarship to pursue further training in pediatric neuromuscular disease, clinical research and advanced training and certification in clinical genomics.
PhD student Austin Byrd, BSN, RN, will use the scholarship to maintain his National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale certification and his advanced cardiovascular life support certification.
PhD student Pamela Jackson, BSN, RN, MLT(ASCP)BB (BSN 2018), will use the scholarship award to disseminate the findings of her dissertation research. Jackson is studying the relationship of epigenetic age acceleration and its relationship to racial disparities and chronic low back pain.
Jennifer Polzin, BSN (BSN 2022), wants to work on a cardiovascular ICU and then return to school to earn a DNP to become a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist.