Yale School of Nursing is proud to announce three new National Clinician Scholars – Shelli Feder, Jasmin Travers, and Hayley Germack.
The National Clinician Scholars Program (NCSP) at Yale is an interprofessional fellowship program provided by Yale School of Medicine and Yale School of Nursing. The program is designed to prepare a select group of future clinician leaders to improve health and health care in the US through scholarship and action at the national, state, and local levels. Now more than ever, collaborative leadership is needed in order to actively improve the health care system from within, as well as to partner across disciplines, health care settings, and communities in order to improve population health. Nurses and physicians work collaboratively on research projects in their area of interest.
The two-year program is designed for both doctorally-trained nurses and physicians. The Yale program has numerous strengths, including:
- A strong foundational curriculum in rigorous health services research and stakeholder engagement as well as in depth training in research design and execution
- Commitment to inter-professional training, research, and teamwork
- Strong partnership with the VA Connecticut Health System
- Exceptional teaching and mentoring talent in program leadership and core faculty, who are leaders at the national, state and local levels in their areas of expertise
- Emphasis on relevance of research, on engagement of those who can help apply research results
- A wealth of experiential opportunities to engage in externships as well as “shadow” healthcare leaders in a variety of settings.
Shelli Feder
Shelli Feder, PhD, APRN, FNP-BC (VA Scholar) is a family nurse practitioner and a recent graduate from the Yale School of Nursing’s PhD program. She received her undergraduate degree in nursing from Florida State University and her Masters in Nursing degree from the Yale University School of Nursing. She has worked for seven years as a nurse practitioner in acute care and inpatient hospice/palliative care settings. As a PhD student, Shelli received the Jonas Center for Nursing and Veterans Healthcare Nurse Leaders Scholar Award and the National Hartford Centers for Gerontological Nursing Excellence Patricia G. Archbold Scholar Award. Shelli’s dissertation research identified factors associated with palliative care referral among hospitalized patients with heart failure. Her research interests include palliative and end-of-life care, medical informatics, quality improvement, health services research, and patient-centered outcomes of care. She plans to pursue a career that combines her interest in palliative and end-of-life care research with her clinical practice in palliative care.
Jasmin Travers
Jasmine Travers, PhD, AGNP-C, RN CCRN (Nursing), (VA Scholar) is an adult gerontological nurse practitioner and a postdoctoral fellow at the New Courtland Center for Transitions and Health at University of Pennsylvania’s School of Nursing. Jasmine received her undergraduate degree in nursing from Adelphi University, masters’ degree in nursing from Stony Brook University, and her PhD from Columbia University. Her clinical experience in critical care and the care of older adults has driven her interest in understanding the complex health and social needs of vulnerable older adults. Her dissertation research focused on infection control and racial/ethnic disparities in influenza and pneumococcal vaccination in nursing homes and was awarded the Gerontological Society of America Pre-dissertation Student Research Award. As a PhD student, Jasmine received the Jonas Center for Nursing and Veterans Healthcare Nurse Leaders Scholar Award and was additionally recognized for her leadership with Columbia’s Leadership Award and Exceptional Student of the Month Award. At Penn, Jasmine was awarded the Dean’s Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship and the American Academy of Nursing Jonas Policy Scholar Fellowship for her contributions to shaping practice, education, policy, and research. Her current work focuses on mitigating disparities in appropriate access and use of in-home and facility-based care for older adults. Throughout her training, Jasmine has had the opportunity to present her work at multiple regional and national health services research, gerontological, nursing, and public health conferences and contribute to improving the health of the community through several service activities. Jasmine plans to pursue a career that advances and implements knowledge designed to reduce health disparities experienced by vulnerable older adult populations. Herresearch interests include aging, health policy, health disparities, and access and utilization of long-term services and supports for older adults related to financing, planning, and health outcomes.
Hayley Germack
Dr. Germack is a health services researcher and nurse change agent. She is passionate about eliminating the 10 to 25-year mortality gap for patients with serious mental illness by increasing access to primary care services. Currently, her research examines the role of the inter-professional behavioral health and primary care workforce in providing holistic care to this vulnerable population. After earning her BA in Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania, she went on to complete her BSN and PhD in four years as a Hillman Scholar in Nursing Innovation at Penn Nursing’s Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR). At CHOPR, Dr. Germack received advanced training in nursing outcomes research through a T32 funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR). Her pre- and post-doctoral research examined how the organizational context of acute inpatient care mediates the outcomes of nursing interventions, with a particular focus on Magnet® accreditation. Dr. Germack also served as Executive Director of an mHealth tool, re:Mind, to improve care coordination for patients discharged from acute inpatient psychiatric stays. She went on to receive additional training in health services and community engaged research as the first nurse in the National Clinician Scholars Program at Yale University. Dr. Germack has taught health policy, quantitative methods, and community based participatory research to undergraduate students and nurses. She is actively involved in professional research organizations including AcademyHealth, where she participates in the Interdisciplinary Research Group on Nursing Issues (IRGNI). In her spare time, she is a competitive runner and triathlete. Listen to an interview with Dr. Germack about her experience with the National Clinician Scholars program