School Notes: School of Nursing
March/April 2019

HIV prevention expert joins leadership team

The School of Nursing welcomes LaRonE. Nelson as the inaugural associate dean for global health and equity. Nelson is a leading expert in implementation science and HIV prevention within African and African diaspora communities, including populations in the United States, Canada, and Ghana. His current research investigates the implementation and effectiveness of the Client Centered Care Coordination intervention for supporting the scale-up of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis as a strategy to reduce the number of new HIV infections among black men who have sex with men in New York and Toronto. At YSN, Nelson’s portfolio includes the Office of Global Health and the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), including the creation of a DEI Council for the school.

Midwifery leader addresses nursing grads

Dr. Holly Powell Kennedy congratulated Frontier Nursing University graduates as the keynote speaker for fall 2018 commencement ceremonies in Hyden, Kentucky. The first Helen Varney Professor of Midwifery at YSN, Kennedy is an internationally known midwifery researcher and leader. She is a former president of the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM), the professional association representing certified nurse-midwives and certified midwives in the United States. In 2016, she received the Hattie HemschemeyerAward, ACNM’s highest honor, in recognition of her contributions to research, education, and practice. Dr. Kennedy’s program of research is rooted in her clinical and educational experiences, during which she found a prevailing lack of trust in and fear of childbirth. Her research is committed to understanding how care provided during pregnancy and birth connects to the resulting clinical and social outcomes.