International Students Present Dissertation Proposals at Hopkins
by Jon Eichberger
Nursing collaborations, sexual trauma, schizophrenia, and women’s health: these are all prominent topics in today’s healthcare system, and they will need a new generation of nursing professionals to address them. That’s why these topics are the focus of dissertation proposals presented by doctoral nursing students at Hopkins in December. But their studies aren’t based in Baltimore—these students are earning their doctoral degrees in China and South Africa.
Huang Baoyan, Kang Xiaofeng, Zou Haiou, Fan Yanyan, and Sun Ning are members of the fourth cohort of doctoral nursing students from China’s Peking Union Medical College (PUMC). The PUMC/JHUSON doctoral program partnership, funded by the China Medical Board of Boston, Inc., has resulted in the first nurse PhD graduates from a Chinese university.
Mahlasela Annah Rakhudu, Gaboipolewe Margaret Masilo, and Kathleen Khomotso Direko were the first to be invited as part of an informal collaboration with North-West University in South Africa. “These students have seen first-hand how American nursing compares to their native nursing program in South Africa, and have applied that experience to their doctoral studies,” says professor Phyllis Sharps, PhD, RN, who also served as faculty mentor to the South African students.