Emerald Jenkins

Biography

Emerald Jenkins, PhD, DNP, AGPCNP-BC, MSN, RN was appointed to the training grant as an interdisciplinary postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins in August 2023. Dr. Jenkins holds a bachelor’s degree in biology with minors in sociology, genetics, health/medicine and human values from North Carolina State University, master’s degrees in medical science and nursing from Hampton University and Johns Hopkins School of Nursing respectively, and dual doctoral degrees as a PhD and DNP-Advanced Practice from the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. Prior to her doctoral degrees, Jenkins worked her way through the healthcare workforce as a candy striper, Certified Nursing Assistant in geriatrics, Medical Assistant in primary care, and in bench science research as a Technician in Genomics, CAM and Microbiology/Infectious Disease. During her doctoral program, she served as a caregiver, a Psychiatric Registered Nurse in an acute setting and research assistant/resident on several aging-related projects in pain and dementia led by Drs. Janiece Taylor, Sarah Szanton and Haera Han. Dr. Jenkins multi-method dissertation was funded through a NIH TL1 and NIA R36 grant, and its purpose was to determine the needs of older adults with co-occurring mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or early dementia and physical disabilities with or without care partners. As a postdoctoral fellow on the Health Services and Outcomes Research (HSOR) for Aging Populations training program, Dr. Jenkins’ goal is to research pain in persons with dementia with primary mentor Dr. Quincy Samus. As a Clinician Scientist, Dr. Jenkins works part-time as an Adult/Gero Primary Care Nurse Practitioner and as a telecollaborator on Dr. Quincy Samus’ MIND at Home Study with clinical mentor Dr. Valerie Cotter. Post-fellowship, she hopes to cultivate cultural humility and challenge power imbalances in healthcare education/research and build innovative human-centered care communities for elders.

Mentor
Quincy Samus