Eight DNP Executive/MPH dual degree graduates recently presented their work at the American Public Health Association’s 2025 Meeting and Expo in Washington, D.C. They joined 12,000 professionals from across the nation, who lead research and practice in public health, in communities ranging from rural to urban regions and in international contexts to address the theme of “Making the Public’s Health a National Priority.” Building on last year’s successful submissions from the program that led to eleven recent graduates from the DNP/MPH Class of ’24 presenting at APHA 2024 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, these students submitted their doctoral work during the spring of 2025 and underwent rigorous review by professionals leading relevant sections of the conference. They were also joined by the very first graduate of the program, Maria Nerina Girasol ’23, who has continued her efforts to improve the quality of care in nursing homes in her recent leadership role as VP of Clinical Operations at Hilltop Health Group. Each of the presenters from the program represents exceptional leadership at the intersection of nursing and public health across a wide range of topics, ranging from aging to maternal-child, disability policy, and environmental health.
The first day of the presentations started strong with Nerina Girasol’s outstanding oral presentation of her quality improvement study, “Implementation of an advanced care planning intervention in nursing homes” as part of the Aging & Public Health Section. This was followed by a stellar oral presentation by Courtney Carter ’25, who took on the complex topic of the US maternal health crisis post-Dobbs in her policy analysis in the Sexual and Reproductive Health section. DNP Executive graduate Sally Keller ’25 joined the DNP/MPH graduates with her excellent oral presentation, “Addressing breastfeeding inequities through Kangaroo Mother Care,” as part of the Breastfeeding Forum’s session.
Three DNP/MPH graduates presented in poster sessions on Monday and Tuesday. Amanda Batlle ’25 led with her poster “The Missing Link in Child Injury Prevention: Linking Hospital Child Fatality Review to Community Injury Prevention Efforts” as part of the Injury Control and Emergency Health Services section, which was so well-attended that she was still deep in conversation with inquiring participants when the session ended. Sonya Alivio ’25 presented an exceptionally impactful poster, “Protecting the Protectors: Keeping Firefighters Safe from Forever Chemicals”, that also drew the attention of many attendees, including senior reviewers for the section on Occupational Health and Safety who hosted the poster session. Allison Gilmer’s ’25 excellent poster, “Improving Methadone Management in Massachusetts: A Policy Analysis,” generated similarly high levels of attention in the Tobacco, Alcohol, and Other Drugs section, from scholars, practitioners, and journal editors alike.
Leslye Kemp ’25 and Rosaline Owusu ‘25 both delivered outstanding oral presentations focusing on disability policy as part of the Community Health Planning and Policy Development Section. Leslye’s presentation focused on “Enabling Caregiving for Children with Disability in Tennessee,” while Rosaline’s addressed overcoming barriers in transitional support for autistic racial and ethnic minority youth. Both presentations were very well-received. DNP/MPH presentations concluded with Melanie Mariano’s ’25 impactful lightning session talk in the Aging & Public Health section on “Utilization of race-free fracture risk calculation tool to assess DXA screening eligibility amongst different racial and ethnic minorities.”
These excellent presentations reflected the wide range of topics at the intersection of population health and nursing that our graduates have pursued since the DNP/MPH program was established, as well as the diversity of doctoral projects from quality improvement efforts to policy analyses. Across the topical diversity, the unwavering commitment to addressing health equity remains clear – a reflection of the program’s overarching purpose. Presenters were joined by DNP/MPH program alumna Khin Aungthein ’24, who presented at APHA 2024, and who recently became an Assistant Professor of Nursing at Heritage University, as well as current student Katherine Ampolini ’26, who is completing her doctoral work. Several of these graduates and others from the program have already presented or are preparing to present their work at other international, national, and state conferences, and are preparing manuscripts for submission to professional journals based on their work. See a list of recent publications from the program.
These DNP/MPH graduates are already making a significant impact. We are thrilled to celebrate their successes and look forward to many more submissions to future meetings of the American Public Health Association, as well as other conferences in the coming year.