Dr. Shaquita Starks is a board-certified Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) and with nearly 27 years of nursing experience. She began her career earning an Associate of Applied Science from Holmes Community College in Grenada, MS, in 1998. She later obtained a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (2006), a Master of Science in Nursing (2007), and a Ph.D. in Nursing Science (2016) from The University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, TN. Additionally, she completed a Post-Master’s Certificate in Family Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing (2016) at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, MS.
Dr. Starks’ interests include caregiver health, quality of life, spirituality, ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, psychedelics, integrated care, and mental health disparities, particularly among African Americans. Her clinical experience spans family practice (primary care), community mental health, crisis stabilization, and outpatient and inpatient psychiatry across the lifespan.
Committed to mentoring and fostering diversity in psychiatric nursing, Dr. Starks serves as a mentor for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Minority Fellowship Program and is a member of the Interdisciplinary Minority Fellowship Program Training Advisory Committee (ITAC) for the SAMHSA Interdisciplinary Minority Fellowship Program.
She is actively engaged in professional leadership, serving as an elected Co-Chair of the International Society of Psychiatric Nurses (ISPN) Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and as an elected member of the Nominations Committee. Previously, she was Project Director for a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)-funded Integrated Substance Use Disorder Training Program (ISTP) grant Atlanta, GA.
Dr. Starks has contributed extensively to psychiatric nursing scholarship, publishing research and scholarly works in peer-reviewed journals such as Issues in Mental Health Nursing, Western Journal of Nursing Research, Journal of Advanced Nursing, Journal of Clinical Nursing, Nursing Clinics of North America, and Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. She has also presented her work at international, national, and regional conferences.
Dr. Starks is a proud member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., one of the nine organizations within the National Pan-Hellenic Council.
Specialties and Expertise
- Chronic Care
- Community
- Disparities
- Diversity
- Equity
- Integrated Health
- Mental Health
- Primary Care
- PTSD
- Public Health
- Resilience/Stress Coping
- Social Determinants of Health
- Spirituality
- Substance Use/Addiction
- Trauma