The Johns Hopkins Nurses’ Alumni Association (JHNAA) has welcomed public health nurse and researcher Fernando Mena-Carrasco, MSW, MSN ’18, BSN ’15 and now a PhD student at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, as its president.
“My education and ongoing leadership with the Hopkins School of Nursing has informed my evolution as a nurse and social worker who advances social justice through evidence-based activism,” says Mena-Carrasco. “It was during my training when I met fellow students and mentors who strengthened my resolve to integrate clinical practice with social justice advocacy. I learned that nurses not only provide clinical care but have a critical role in policy design and leading systems of care.”
For Mena-Carrasco, chief of the Center for HIV/STI Integration and Capacity at the Maryland Department of Health through February 2023, serving as JHNAA president “enables me to elevate our professional obligation to address health inequities through our spheres of influence.”
At JHSON, Mena-Carrasco has given back through an internship as a teaching assistant for the Policy Honors Seminar (exploring current topics in immigration, aging, and U.S. and global health policy) and as a clinical instructor (Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing and Population and Public Health Nursing courses).
[Student Leader Fernando Mena-Carrasco Stands Up for Diversity]
Korrina Lau, MSN ’08, BSN ’05 has been named JHNAA vice president.
Lau worked as a bone marrow transplant nurse for eight years at Johns Hopkins Hospital while earning her MSN. Lau worked as a community based medical oncology nurse practitioner and a radiation oncology NP at University of Maryland Medical Center before moving home to California, and is an oncology therapeutic area field trainer for the biotech firm Genentech, currently on rotation as a breast oncology marketer.
“For me, the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing was integral in the discovery of my passion for oncology, bringing care to patients in underserved communities, and educating on new treatments for various disease states,” Lau says. “My career was founded on these passions, and so when I heard the JHNAA was expanding its representation across the nation, I wanted to join to give back to the institution and community that had shaped me.”
