Nurse. Scientist. Educator. Leader.

Doctorally-prepared nurses are among the profession’s greatest assets. As scientists, clinicians, and educators, they are critical to the development of the profession’s next generation of leaders and to the advancement of nursing care through discovery.

But they are in increasingly short supply. Nurses with PhDs make up less than one percent of the nation’s nursing workforce — an alarming statistic in a field that is expected (and needed) to grow to meet the health care needs of our aging population.

Recognizing the urgency of the need for more nurse PhDs, the Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) Foundation’s Future of Nursing Scholars program was created to increase that number and support  PhD candidates with mentoring, leadership development, and postgraduate funding.

Allie Tran, BSN, RN, and Amber Kimball, BSN, RN, both study at Carolina on the Future of Nursing Scholars grant. Tran’s doctoral studies focus on how workplace environment issues affect turnover among nurses and the financial impact of high turnover rates on organizations. Kimball is using the grant to discover interventions that may benefit hearing-impaired individuals who live in acute care settings.

RWJ Future of Nursing Scholars are funded at only 32 nursing programs across the country. Having two at the UNC School of Nursing attests to the high regard our academic programs and graduates are held in.

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