Jemma Ayvazian, ANP-BC, and Jamie Cherup, students in the Doctor of Nursing Practice program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, have been named 2013 Bob Woodruff Foundation-Jonas Nurse Scholars.

Ayvazian, a nurse practitioner in the Polytrauma Clinic at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Dayton, OH, is focusing on an integrated care model for veterans returning from war with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI). 

PTSD is also the key topic for Cherup, a family nurse practitioner for the U.S. Air Force in Phoenix, AZ. She is evaluating PTSD among vets in a civilian setting.

The Jonas Center for Nursing Excellence is a philanthropic program dedicated to advancing the profession and addressing the nationwide nursing shortage. The Bob Woodruff Foundation was launched by and named for the television reporter who sustained serious head injuries covering the Iraq war in 2006. The two organizations will co-fund 2013 grants of $10,000 to doctoral nursing students focused on veterans’ “invisible wounds of war," notably PTSD and TBI. 

“Perhaps at no other time in history have veterans’ needs been greater,” said the Jonas Center in announcing the grants, “with more than 20 percent of returning veterans suffering from PTSD, TBI, and/or depression and the number of service members who took their lives last year surpassing the number killed in combat.”

Learn more about the Doctor of Nursing Practice program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing.