I am currently finishing up my Master’s Degree in our Nurse Practitioner Program here at XXXX University. I have a special emphasis in my studies on adults, most particularly our geriatric population. My compassion for my patients, and the older they are the more that I love them, is matched only by my attention to detail and my enthusiasm for nursing.

I was born and raised in Africa, in Freetown, Sierra Leon, my country of origin. At 46, I am now a non-traditional student who has come to love and appreciate XXXX University very much. This is why your program is my first choice for doctoral studies. I have developed valuable professional contacts and a good family and spiritual support base here in Minnesota—all of which will help me give my all to your program with as few distractions as possible. Thus, I feel that I am at my optimal moment to pursue my PHD studies, taking advantage of a wealth of practical experience to stimulate my creative juices as I tackle many of the most burning issues in nursing today. Especially over the last decade, I have enjoyed growing responsibility as an RN and I I feel strongly that this experience will be helpful for my PHD studies, along with my academic preparation throughout my undergraduate studies and then on a graduate level. I have much to contribute, as an African woman, to the diversity and inclusiveness of your program, especially as a result of my professional and life experiences.

I have spent the last decade in the emergency room. ER is has become a professional home to me over the years. I work in all areas of ER at the University of XXXX Medical Center in XXXX. We have a trauma section, along with 2 obstetrics and gynecology rooms and a state-of-the-art psychiatric emergency department. Most of the time, I work in triage where I have learned to safely assess and expedite care for the critically ill patients in my care, safely admitting, transferring, and discharging patients as necessary. I profoundly love being part of an excellent team that all pulls together around the goal of optimal health care for patients and their families. I take special joy in having the opportunity to focus on preventative care and public health education, disseminating information to support groups so as to empower critically ill patients to take advantage of all available resources in the community.

I am a cosmopolitan African woman who now makes North America her home. My travels to Central America to serve with medical missions have been especially important to the development of my professional identity thus far. My colleagues and I go on mission trips to Honduras where we work with the underserved populations in the city of La Ceiba. And I hope to continue to excel in this area as a doctoral student and beyond. Being accepted to your doctoral program will enable me to strive effectively towards the goal of helping to make society as safe as possible from the threat of untimely death. I have developed a special focus on how to treating stage 1 hypertension before the disease progresses to an irreversible stage and I keenly look forward to investigating this issue, in particular, in your program. 10 years from now I would like to be one of the leading experts in the field of hypertension among African Americans. My dream job would be to work with the WHO and develop programs in the prevention or early detection of hypertension and treatment among both Africans and African-Americans, investigating what we can learn from the differences among us. I am honored by the fact that my hospital serves a huge minority/immigrant population, increasingly the face of urban America. I believe the most pressing health concerns are the lack of effective education on disease processes and preventative medicine; and I am especially concerned with the disparities that exist among the racial groups with respect to levels of public health issue awareness. Blacks, in particular, suffer from hypertension more so than any other racial group. Unique factors of cultural identity come into play with the American black, particularly men, a lack of trust in health care delivery based on past issues such as the Tuskegee experience. There is also the theory of drug resistance in blacks to hypertensives.

My number one goal will be to work towards a transformation in the way people that people view health. Having worked in health care for the past 15 years, I have come to profoundly appreciate the way that we need to focus on wellness, not disease. Establishing trust among the population that I plan to serve is a central key to promoting a message of wellness. I look forward to a lifetime of study of the way in which the family must play an integral part of the African-American patient’s path to wellness, leading to healthier communities and, ultimately, a reduction in health disparities along racial lines. My systems change project will be in the area of Community Nursing Management of African Americans with stage 1 hypertension in XXXX Center, MN. The emphasis will be on general wellness, along with education and therapy compliance to prevent the disease condition from advancing to the next stage, thereby avoiding subsequent hospitalizations. I see my established relationship with the African Health Initiative as a great resource for doctoral studies. At XXXX University I have learned that our foremost duty is to uphold principles of social justice and equality, solidarity and the protection of life and dignity of every human being. Now, I want to shoulder the battle flag in the struggle to protect the lives and dignity of the world’s poor and vulnerable populations, working with an international health organization, designing community wellness programs and hypertension control initiatives.