Yale School of Nursing (YSN) students entering their first specialty year celebrated the school’s master’s inauguration on September 27, a formal ceremony in which specialty directors attire each honoree in a white coat.
This significant academic milestone officially welcomes nursing and midwifery students to the master’s program and includes both Registered Nurses (RNs) in their first semester and Graduate Entry Pre-specialty in Nursing (GEPN) students who have completed the first year of that three-year program.
At the Omni Hotel in New Haven, Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) student Dhruva Patel ’27 MSN addressed the significance of the garment in her speech, “Celebrating A Step Towards Bright Futures.”
“Our white coats signify more than just a uniform; they embody our commitment to providing the highest standard of care, rooted in the core values of the Yale School of Nursing,” Patel said. “Yale’s mission is to advance nursing practice through education, research, and the implementation of evidence-based care to achieve better health for all people. The Yale mission will guide and shape us into skilled, thoughtful and ethical leaders in the nursing field.”
Dean Azita Emami, PhD, MSN, BSN, RNT, RN, FAAN, saluted the students’ achievement and pointed out that as members of the nation’s most trusted profession, YSN students are also among the most sought after in healthcare.
“Current estimates are that the profession needs to graduate almost 30,000 advanced practice nurses each year through 2032 to meet the demand,” Dean Emami said. “We want every one of you to succeed so you help fill that demand, and we will do everything possible to support you and assure your success.”
The honorees are listed below.
Adult/Gerontology-Acute Care
Abduallah Alayafi
Reem Alotaibi
Vee Alzahrani
Lauren Anderson
Dylan Antonioli
Hannah Feliciano
Torren Zayn Jarvis
Dang Lam
Moira Lewerk
Karina Lopez Carmona
Ryan Sweeney
Brian Thomas
Nurse-Midwifery
Alexandra Azevedo
Rebecca Bernardo
Liliana Klepeis
Jessie Laurore
Lara Paxton
Kayla Siegel
Sarah-Grace Sweeney
Juliana Weiss
Nicki Wilmar
Cheryl Yang
Psychiatric-Mental Health
Autumn Banks
Angie Benhard
Bridget Claflin
Marykate Conron
Richard Conte
Lidia Danilevich
Liz Daskalakis
Bryce Dolph
Batchimeg Erdenebaatar
Tira Gaston
Nicole Golden
Nico Hortensi
Chassidie Liu
Erin McGroarty
Camryn McGuire
Sam Moffett
Kristy Polk
Abbe Riffle
Rhea Saini
Levi Tang
Micah Elissa Tiamzon
MJ Williams
Jiatian Yue
Adult/Gerontology-Primary Care
Fenot Awalom
Israel Francisco
Fong-Ying Gau
Yu-Han Hu
Amanda Ilaria
Sean Morgan
Nurse-Midwifery / Women’s Health
Marwa Abdinoor
Jamison Dorsey
Amy Frautschi
Claudia Gerbracht
Hana Hamdi
Isabel Kirke
Marcos Quintana
Anna Kate Rattray
Vida Sanchez
Lindsay Walker
Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner
Jamilah Aldawsari
Lesley Carranza Bonilla
Either Kayal
Allison Leavey
Sukanya Shukla
Jae Min Song
Billie White
Pediatric Nurse Practitioner-Primary Care
Autumn Arel
Angela Blangiforti
Shannon Gallagher
Johanna Hadgu
Moshema Hull
YuJin Kim
Danielle Lee
Jason Luu
Marisa Mendez
Nguyen Nguyen
Beth Sciallis
Melissa Ta
Kristina Vetter
Abigail Wilson
Julia Winkler
Lauren Young
Family Nurse Practitioner
Talita Acciari
Alexandra Babineau
Lara Barnes
Alicia Clarke
Emily Cournoyer
Karma Desai
Nuvdeep Dhillon
Bex Farmer
Katie Francis
Hannah Han
June Kim
Austin Lee
Tiffany Lin
McKenna Mason
Meaghan McGuire
Allegra Menniti
Sam Mensah
Theresa Meosky
Michelle Montes
Ezra Otto
Dhruva Patel
Peter Rustan
Kelly Savin
Miranda Scott
Kristen Sobschak
Muskaan Tahirkheli
Rosa Tomasto
Elizabeth Wargo
Heidi Willard
Samantha Wold
Jerry Zhang