NAWSON Nurse Faculty Selected as Fellows in Prestigious LEADS Program
Assistant Professor Cynthia Greywolf and Assistant Professor Samia Valeria Ozorio Dutra were selected as 2024 fellows for the prestigious Leading Emerging and Diverse Scientists to Success (LEADS) program.
Targeting early-career faculty and postdocs, the LEADS program partners with minority-serving institutions to provide fellows with unique opportunities to hone their grant-writing skills and network with other early-career scholars. Over the course of two years, scholars have participated in didactic courses, “sprint” skill development, and career coaching. The program goal is to culminate with scholars successfully submitting a grant of their own to a federal funding agency.
Dr. Greywolf is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Her program of research explores the impact of historical and intergenerational trauma, health disparities, and health equity on Native Hawaiians and American Indians. Dr. Greywolf is also a psych-mental health nurse practitioner with over 20 years of clinical practice in various settings, including Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital in Boston and federally qualified health centers in remote areas of Hawaii and the southwest. She has been dedicated to the practice of nursing and providing culturally safe care and interventions, including trauma-focused care, to achieve equitable health outcomes for underserved and vulnerable populations such as American Indians, Native Hawaiians, LBGTQIA communities, and older adults in long-term care settings.
“It is an honor to be accepted for this fellowship. I’m looking forward to the knowledge and skills that the fellowship will provide me to give back to the community and enhance my career,” Greywolf said.
Dr. Dutra is a nurse from Brazil who studies gut microbiome and focuses on mental health promotion and neurodevelopment. Her research explores gaining an understanding of mental health, women’s health, oncology (breast cancer), and gut microbiome (Omics), while also working with instrumental technology derived from her dissertation work. Dr Dutra spearheads and participates in local, national, and international research.
“I am honored and grateful to be selected for this prestigious award that recognizes the excellence and potential of early-career researchers,” Dutra says. “I see the potential of developing projects that fit into different phases of translational research as I also seek to explore biological and social variables, for example. This award will provide me with valuable mentorship, training, and networking opportunities to support the development of interventions with community partnerships. I look forward to the community insights into potential mental health promotion research and tailoring of interventions that can lead to better results.”
The LEADS program is run by the Institute of Clinical Research Education in partnership with Pitt Clinical and Translational Science Institute. It is funded by a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant, so is offered to selected scholars free of charge. Other previous LEADS fellows from NAWSON include Assistant Professor Gary Glauberman, 2022 and Assistant Professor Donna-Marie Palakiko, 2023.