OU Fran and Earl Ziegler College of Nursing Student Awarded Grant from Jonas Philanthropies to Fund Doctoral Nursing Students

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 8/26/21 - The Fran and Earl Ziegler College of Nursing at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center is proud to announce Andrea Root, a second year Ph.D. student has been awarded a grant of $20,000 from Jonas Philanthropies, a leading national philanthropic funder of graduate nursing education. Root is a Family Nurse Practitioner in a family medicine clinic and holds the certifications as an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse from the Oklahoma Board of Nursing, a Family Nurse Practitioner from the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, and a Certified Nursing Educator from the National League for Nursing. Her dissertation plan of study is to determine if poor food consumption is positively related to the prevalence of functional gastrointestinal disorders for Veterans living in rural Oklahoma.

The OU Fran and Earl Ziegler College of Nursing joins Jonas Philanthropies’ efforts to improve the quality of healthcare by investing in nursing scholars whose research and clinical foci specifically address our nation’s most urgent needs. The grant will empower and support nursing students with financial assistance, leadership development and networking to expand the pipeline of future nursing faculty, researchers and advanced practice nurses. With 10,000 baby boomers turning 65 each day, ¹ an entire generation of the healthcare workforce is aging at a rapid pace. ² This, coupled with care for the 22.2 million veterans living across the country, ³ means the United States is facing a dire need for a new era of highly educated nursing professionals.

The OU Fran and Earl Ziegler College of Nursing and Jonas Philanthropies believe the investment in the education of nurse leaders is critically important to improve the healthcare system. “The Jonas Nursing and Veterans’ Health award presents Ms. Root with the fantastic opportunity to develop leadership capacity and nursing science expertise in veterans’ health in collaboration with colleagues in the VA healthcare system in Oklahoma City. As an advanced practice registered nurse, Ms. Root brings a unique lens to her area of research as she studies the social and structural factors that impact the health of veterans living in rural Oklahoma communities. Her research will build a foundation for future programs that aim to promote health equity in this high-priority population,” stated Dr. Emily Jones, Ph.D. program director at the OU Fran and Earl Ziegler College of Nursing.

As a Jonas Nurse Scholar, Andrea Root is part of the new 2021-2023 cohort of more than 75 Scholars pursuing PhD, DNP or EdD degrees at 49 universities across the country whose doctoral work will focus on such critical health priorities as Environmental Health, Vision Health, Psych-Mental Health, and/or Veterans Health. Root joins more than 1,000 Jonas Scholar alumni representing 157 universities across all 50 states.

 “Each year, we grow more in awe of all our Jonas Scholars have achieved. It is with great honor that we welcome and celebrate this new cohort of nurse leaders,” said Donald Jonas, who co-founded Jonas Philanthropies with his late wife Barbara Jonas. “With more than 1,400 Jonas Scholars to date who are committed to meeting the greatest health needs of our time, we look forward to continuing our work with our partner nursing schools and expanding our impact to advance care for the country’s most vulnerable populations.”

¹ http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2010/12/29/baby-boomers-retire/

² https://www.ncsbn.org/summary_2013.pdf

³https://www.gao.gov/assets/590/585743.pdf