Seven UR Nursing Alumni, Faculty Recognized as Top Diversity Leaders by NBNA

Seven University of Rochester School of Nursing alumni have been announced as inaugural Fellows of the Academy of Diversity Leaders in Nursing (ADLN).

Established by the National Black Nurses Association (NBNA), the ADLN Fellowship recognizes nurses who have demonstrated expertise in nursing education, research, practice, policy, or administration related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice. This summer, the NBNA will welcome 176 national nursing leaders into the first class of ADLN fellows.

“It has been said that those closest to the problem are the ones who are closest to the solutions. Indeed, we will harness our collective strengths to advance the nursing profession and enhance the quality of healthcare for all,” said Kenya V. Beard, EdD, RN, AGACNP-BC, ANEF, FAAN, inaugural ADLN president and dean of Mercy University School of Nursing.

Two School of Nursing alumni were named Luminary ADLN Fellows, a designation for nursing leaders with more than 30 years of experience who have made significant contributions to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice throughout their careers:

• Sally Ellis Fletcher ’10N (PhD), RN, MSN, FNAP, currently serves as the associate dean for students at the University of Missouri-Kansas City in the School of Nursing and Health Studies, and was previously an associate professor at the University of Rochester School of Nursing. At the core of Fletcher’s career are the essential elements of entrepreneurship, which she weaves into her cultural diversity, inclusivity, and education initiatives. Her passion for education has led her to teach undergraduate and graduate students in a variety of learning environments including private, public, and urban organizations. Fletcher is the author of Cultural Sensibility in Healthcare: A personal and professional guidebook, which illuminates the daily reality that historically underrepresented minority and ethnic health care workers encounter.
  
  
• Eileen Sullivan-Marx ’80N (MS), RN, FAAN, FGSA, is the former dean of New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing and past president of the American Academy of Nursing. She had a distinguished career at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, where she was the associate dean for practice & community affairs, developing community partnerships for care of older adults and promotion of healthy activities. She is a renowned nursing leader, educator, and clinician known for research and innovative approaches in primary care, testing methods of payment for nurses particularly with Medicaid and Medicare, sustaining models of care using advanced practice nurses locally and globally, and developing health policy in community-based settings. She hosts “The Nurse Practitioner Show” on Sirius XM Doctor Radio.

Five alumni were named Distinguished ADLN Fellows, in recognition of their work to create innovative diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice initiatives in nursing.

• Kamila Barnes ’11N (MS), ’13N (DNP), FNP-C, is chair of the National Black Nurses Association’s Black Maternal Health Task Force, an associate professor of undergraduate nursing at Hofstra University, and the founder and owner of Barnes Health Affiliates, LLC. She is a maternal health advocate and family nurse practitioner who has worked to reduce maternal-child health disparities through her clinical, scholarly, and community service work. Barnes is the author of the peer-reviewed article “Psychosocial Support for Teen Mothers,” which describes the health disparities teens experience and her DNP scholarly project on healthy decision-making and self-efficacy of teen mothers in an urban community.
  
  
• Yvette Conyers '07N, DNP, MS, RN, FNP-C, CTN-B, is the associate dean for equity, diversity, and inclusion at University of Maryland School of Nursing and former co-director of the accelerated bachelor’s program for non-nurses at the University of Rochester School of Nursing. She served as the founding president of the Rochester Black Nurses Association, a chapter of the NBNA, and as the co-chair of the Common Ground Health African American Health Coalition. Conyers has been a nurse for more than 20 years, and has been providing services in community-based settings for the past decade. Conyers is a certified foot care nurse, an expert and frequent speaker on foot health topics, and the owner of Foot and Nail Health, an organization that offers mobile routine foot and toenail care in the Baltimore region.
  
  
• Orlando Harris ’10N (MS), ’14N (PhD), MPH, FAAN, is an associate professor of nursing in the Department of Community Health Systems at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Nursing and a researcher who leads community-based participatory research methods both in the United States and the Caribbean, focused on improving health among vulnerable sexual and gender minority populations. Harris’ research has provided a qualitative understanding of the complexities that shape Jamaican men and transgender women's sexual decision-making and HIV risk factors. Through his work, he hopes to amplify the voices of sexual and gender minorities in Jamaica and the wider Anglophone Caribbean and help reduce the health disparities they experience.
  
  
• LaRon Nelson ’02N, ’04N (MS), ’09N (PhD), FNAP, FNYAM, FAAN, is Independence Foundation Associate Professor of Nursing and associate dean of global health & equity at Yale University School of Nursing. He first began his nursing career as a Monroe County Department of Public Health sexual health clinic, which led him on a path toward becoming a leading HIV researcher. His domestic and international research investigates the implementation and effectiveness of multi-level intervention strategies to reduce race and sexuality-based disparities in HIV outcomes. Nelson’s work has been funded by several agencies and organizations, including the National Institute of Nursing Research, National Institute of Mental Health, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
  
  
• Mitchell Wharton, PhD, RN, FNP-BC, CNS, ACRN, AAHIVE, FAAN, is an accomplished educator, HIV and sexual health researcher, and clinician at the University of Rochester School of Nursing. As the former associate dean for equity and inclusion, Wharton also led several initiatives toward promoting a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment and raising awareness around inequities in the classroom, clinical setting, and greater community. Their latest research, supported by the Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation, is focused on increasing PrEP uptake for HIV prevention among Black cisgender women. In addition to their academic and research accomplishments, they currently serve as president of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (ANAC) Board of Directors. Last year, they were named a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. 

The inaugural ADLN induction ceremony will take place on July 25 in San Francisco, California, after the opening ceremony of the 52nd Annual Institute and Conference of the NBNA. After the induction ceremony, honorees will be awarded with an FADLN credential.

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