Jennifer Gil

Jennifer Gil, MHCI, MSN, RN is the proud recipient of the Cynthia Davis Sculco Scholarship. She is a fourth-year doctoral student in the PhD in Nursing program at the University of Pennsylvania, where she is a Presidential PhD Fellow at the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research and a Fontaine Society Fellow.  Jennifer also recently earned a Master’s in Healthcare Innovation from Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine and is an Associate Fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics.

Jennifer earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Villanova University in 2013 and her Master of Science in Nursing in Health Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in 2020.  She brings over a decade of clinical experience as a registered nurse in emergency, trauma, and critical care settings.  Her decision to pursue nursing was deeply influenced by witnessing the inequities her family faced navigating the healthcare system—and the powerful role nurses played in improving those experiences. This continues to drive her commitment to advancing care for underserved populations.

In addition to her clinical work, Jennifer has held numerous leadership roles at both the local and national levels, including service on the boards of the American Nurses Association, National Association of Hispanic Nurses, and the Nurses Service Organization. As a former board member of the Student Nurses Association of Pennsylvania, she remains deeply committed to mentoring students, advancing inclusive nursing education, and supporting efforts to build a more diverse nursing workforce. 

Jennifer’s research is also grounded in these principles. Her dissertation examines how social determinants of health influence healthcare utilization after hospitalization among Medicaid and dually insured populations. Using mixed methods and machine learning, she seeks to inform and develop predictive models and equity-centered strategies to strengthen transitional care.  Her work lies at the intersection of health equity, innovation, and care delivery transformation

She chose to obtain her  PhD in Nursing at Penn to deepen her research training and prepare for a career as a nurse educator and health services researcher. With this degree, she plans to advance equity-focused care models, design inclusive curricula, and train future nurse leaders to drive systems-level change.

Receiving the Cynthia Davis Sculco Scholarship is a meaningful honor that affirms Jennifer’s dedication to nursing education and health equity. She is grateful for the support as she completes her dissertation and is honored to be part of the NEF scholar community. She looks forward to contributing to the future of nursing through research, teaching, and leadership.