School Awarded Grant from Jonas Philanthropies to Fund DNP Student
The grant will help tackle the nation’s most pressing healthcare issues through support of high-potential doctoral nursing scholars
The University of Hawaii at Manoa Nancy Atmospera-Walch School of Nursing (NAWSON) is proud to announce it has been awarded a new grant of $15,000 from Jonas Philanthropies, a leading national philanthropic funder of graduate nursing education. Matched by $15,000 of its own monies, the grant will fund the scholarship of one Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) students in 2021.
As a grant recipient, NAWSON 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.
This year’s scholarship recipient is Chelsea Fujita. Her focus is on psychology and mental health. Fujita is currently enrolled in the Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner track of the DNP program, is passionate about geriatric healthcare and is dedicated to serving the older adult population of Hawaii. She intends to help to meet our nation’s growing need for holistic, patient-centered care to people who are near the end of life. Fujita plans to achieve this goal by creating and disseminating a series of educational modules that will train advanced practice providers on the provision of holistic end-of-life care. The aim of her DNP project will be to increase advanced practice providers’ knowledge of end-of-life care ensuring that more patients are able to avoid undue suffering, and can transition to death in a manner that is peaceful and meaningful to them and their families.
With 10,000 baby boomers turning 65 each day, an entire generation of the healthcare workforce is aging at a rapid pace. This, coupled with care for the 22.2 million veterans living across the country, means the United States is facing a dire need for a new era of highly educated nursing professionals. NAWSON and Jonas Philanthropies believe the investment in the education of nurse leaders is critically important to improve the healthcare system.
Fujita 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. They join 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.”