Jade Montanez Chatman is the proud recipient of the Laura D. Smith National Student Nurses' Association (NSNA) Scholarship. She is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Louisville School of Nursing (ULSON). Her dissertation is focused on addressing health promotion and disease prevention in vulnerable populations through the development of strategies to increase nursing workforce diversity. To date, she has two peer-reviewed publications, and she has made several scholarly peer-reviewed presentations at a variety of venues, including regional and local levels.

In 2015, she earned her BSN with Honors from the University of Louisville. At graduation, she received the Helen C. Marshall Award for Outstanding Leadership from the School of Nursing. As an undergraduate, she was actively involved in multiple scholar programs. Additionally, she actively participated in the ULSON Undergraduate Research Scholar Program. As a scholar, she was involved in a research study about the relationship of sociodemographic characteristics with depression, anxiety, and stress in African American adults with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. She presented undergraduate student posters at an Undergraduate Research Symposium and Midwest Nursing Research Society conference.

Since completing her BSN, Jade has worked for our nation's best as a Veteran's Affairs nurse and with people at their most vulnerable moments as a palliative care nurse. As a nurse, she saw first-hand the problems that affect this unique patient population, and the impact nursing had on addressing the needs of this population. She realized that she wanted to be the person conducting research and contributing to improving the healthcare system. In 2016, Jade returned to the ULSON as a BSN-PhD student. Nursing education, health promotion, and health disparities are her research interests. Currently, she works as a Graduate Research/Teaching Assistant.

Jade has received a number of honors and awards. In 2016, she was a part of the inaugural cohort of the University of Louisville Health and Social Justice Scholars Fellowship. In Fall 2018, she received third place in the Research!Louisville Excellence in Health Disparities Research Award. She has also received the Lynn Edwards Research Scholarship and Under 40 Award from the National Black Nurses Association, and she was selected as a 2018-2020 Jonas Scholar. Jade is highly involved in professional, university, and community service. She has assumed leadership roles in local and national professional nursing organizations, as well as the ULSON. At the community level, she has provided leadership as a volunteer coordinator for a local pre-nursing high school.

Jade's long-term professional goals involve becoming a nurse leader and affecting health policy by applying scientific knowledge as a tenured professor. She wants to recruit and educate future nurses, ensuring they have the support to be successful and prepared for real-world nursing by identifying barriers they face and implementing interventions that overcome these barriers. Also, she wants to address the complex health needs of diverse and dynamic populations, through the development of a classroom environment that fosters intellectual inquiry, passion, and commitment for underserved communities through the advancement of nursing science.