To see the variety Yale University School of Nursing's PhD program offers, one simply has to look at the diversity of its students and their research.

There's first-year student Leonie Rose '14, a 42-year-old African American woman born in Jamaica, who is working to improve nurses' skill in reading and interpreting EKGs in emergency departments.

Fourth-year student Nick Nicholson '10, a 30-year-old who was born and raised in Portland, Connecticut, is researching the predictors of social isolation in community-dwelling older adults.

Jia Guo is a visiting PhD scholar from Central South University in Changsha, China, who came to Yale through a fellowship from the Yale-China Association. The 25-year-old is researching self-management of type 1 diabetes.

Second-year student Monica Roosa Ordway '13, a Southbury, Connecticut, resident and mother of two, is researching the effect of maternal reflective functioning and depression on child behavior.

"Promoting nursing as a science is very important, and I feel that is really a strength of the program," Roosa Ordway said. "All the researchers consider themselves scientists. You see a great variety of researchers here, and I think people support looking at things in a different way."

"So far, it's what I wanted it to be in terms of the type of work, and the staff has been great," Rose said. "There is definitely a variety in the program. There are a lot of people in the first-year program, and they are all researching different things."

YSN established a Doctor of Nursing Science program in 1994, which was replaced in the fall of 2006 by the Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing. The program has 20 students pursuing 11 areas of research. It was a natural progression for YSN to continue its already solid foundation by adding a PhD program, said Nancy Reynolds, PhD, RN, C-NP, FAAN, Director of the Doctoral Program: "YSN has been recognized for its leadership in nursing for a long time, and the PhD program builds on the very rich history that was already in place."

"Nurses are the ones at the forefront of the health care system, and we need researchers who can advance the scientific knowledge base for improving the health of diverse populations through nursing practice, organizational structures, and health policy leadership," added Reynolds.

The PhD curriculum is designed to prepare expert nurse scholars. Students take core courses in knowledge development, research methods, statistics, and health policy as well as cognates that give students the opportunity to select courses that enhance their depth and breadth of knowledge in a focused area of study. Yale has a vast array of intellectual resources and supports for research which provides a remarkably rich environment for training nurse scientists, Reynolds said. "We have a group of extraordinary faculty who are leading researchers in their fields. They are extremely knowledgeable and dedicated to mentoring doctoral students to become strong critical thinkers and capable researchers. This is a joy, a privilege, when you have such a bright and promising group of students to work with."

Being encouraged and provided with the opportunity to learn from the different perspectives and expertise of YSN faculty is something the students said makes the program special. "One of the great privileges of being a PhD student at YSN is the support you get," said Roosa Ordway, a 1997 graduate of YSN's Graduate Entry Prespecialty in Nursing program. "No one here has ever made me feel that there's only one way to do something."

Guo said she has been very pleased with the PhD program because researching the self-management of type 1 diabetes wouldn't have even been an option in China. "YSN is very good in this area and there are many scientists I can work with," she stated. "In China, we don't have this type of research so it's been helpful for me…I know I can get any help I need from the faculty at YSN."

Nicholson, an invited student representative on the YSN Doctoral Committee, has enjoyed faculty support for two innovations in which he has taken an active role this year. One is the development of a "Faculty-Student Exchange" designed to facilitate the school's community of scholarship through one-hour forums that provide an opportunity for open discussion exploring cutting-edge issues and ideas. The other, "The Doctoral Corner," is an online site developed for students to get together as a group to talk and share helpful information to support one another, even when away from YSN.

Reynolds, who became director of the doctoral program last September, said she wants the program to provide its students with the preparation needed for the 21st century. "We are preparing the next generation of nursing leaders. We always need to be looking ahead and anticipating trends that will affect the health and health care delivery systems of the future."

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