Fellowship in Health Policy and Media


April 26, 2023

DC Capitol Building

The Center for Health Policy and Media Engagement is committed to educating nurses and allied professionals in the policy process and the power of the media. To that end, one aim of the Fellowship in Health Policy and Media is to increase the visibility of nurses in the media by improving their skills in disseminating their knowledge and stories. The fellowship is a year-long, non-residential program aimed at health-care professionals, journalists and researchers. Each fellow is paired with a GW School of Nursing faculty mentor with similar areas of study and, in collaboration with their mentor, fellows design their own projects. Fellowship projects include a wide range of topics, although many either utilize or assess the use of media and its impact on nursing and health care at large. Scholarship formats include but are not limited to peer-reviewed publications, op-eds, podcasts or other traditional and non-traditional media appearances.

Naila Russell, DNP, CRNP

Mentor: Sherrie Wallington, PhD

  • Opinion piece in the Journal for Nurse Practitioners: “America Needs Nurse Practitioners to Advocate for Social Justice”

  • Published in the journal Policy, Politics & Nursing Practice: “Structural Racism in America: A Summative Content Analysis of National Nursing Organization Statements”

Kristen Choi, PhD, MS, RN

Mentor: Tony Roberson, PhD, PMHNP-BC, RN, FAANP

  • Letter to the editor published in LA Times: “Freedom for mentally ill Californians isn’t the problem. The lack of care options is”
  • NPR appearance to discuss conservatorship
  • Southern California Public Radio: “Governor Newsom’s CARE Court Will Compel Some People To Mental Health Treatment. But Will It Help Them? Or Create More Harm?”

Brittany DiNatale, RN, BSN

Mentor: Karen Drenkard, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN

  • American Nurse publication: “Workplace violence: What Can Nurses Do?”
  • Nurse stakeholder on steering committee of the ANA End Nurse Abuse Campaign

Danielle Altares Sarik, PhD, APRN, CPNP-PC

Mentor: Ashley Darcy-Mahoney, PhD, NNP, FAAN

  • Media campaign to highlight role of nurses at the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital
  • Wrote story on nurse-led innovation: “Baby Steps Program Makes a Difference for NICU Babies and Families”
  • Facilitating story on support activities for RNs and innovative solutions for nurse burnout

Kasey Jordan, RN, PhD

Mentor: Joyce Pulcini, PhD, MSN

  • Interviews and conversations with school nurses nationwide on perception of rule, use of media and influence of the media on the profession
  • Publication: School Nurse Perceptions of Continuing Education: Identifying the Process of Engagement

Lisa D. Beasley, DNP, APRN, NP-C, RN

Mentor: Melissa Batchelor, PhD, RN-BC, FNP-BC, FGSA, FAAN

  • “That’s Healthful Podcast”
    • Target audience: providers and general public
    • More than 60 fully produced episodes, tracking metrics for success
    • Promotion through social media, utilize graphic design
    • Soliciting funding
    • Had other fellows/mentors as guest speakers

Hildegart Gonzalez, PhD

Mentor: Richard Ricciardi, PhD, CRNP, FAANP, FAAN

  • Project topic overview and outcomes:
    • The journalistic narrative and the nursing narrative around nursing in the media and on social networks
      • Visibility of healthcare workers in the COVID-19 crisis: A study of sources and topics in television news broadcasts.
    • The nursing sector in media and social media: knowledge, uses, expectations, attitudes, risks and opportunities. Nurses’ mass media and social media communications competencies development
      • Protocol accepted in PROSPERO: “Nursing in social media and mass media: risks and opportunities. A systematic review”
      • Publication in TESELA (nursing management journal in Spain): Nurses’ communicative competence: key to achieving a narrative of their own