Jasmine Nakayama, BSN, RN, CEN, was awarded the Barbara Jonas Scholarship for academic excellence and active community service. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Augusta University and is currently a Nursing PhD candidate at Emory University's Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. A Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Future of Nursing Scholar and Nurses Educational Funds, Inc. Scholar, she is preparing to use her training to improve public health, advance nursing research and informatics, and train the next generation of nurses. Her extracurricular activities include volunteering at a community clinic and in a nursing students' organization.

Drawn to nursing's holistic approach to health, Jasmine has clinical experience in inpatient, outpatient, and Emergency Department settings. As the Nurse Care Coordinator at a non-profit clinic providing comprehensive care to uninsured patients with low incomes, she coordinated the treatment of dozens of persons with chronic hepatitis C. Ultimately, those experiences influenced Jasmine to pursue a PhD to increase her potential impact on public health and healthcare. Through her doctoral studies, she is learning how to integrate data science and clinical knowledge for greater insight. She is particularly interested in the prevention and management of chronic conditions in vulnerable populations, and her dissertation will use a large database of Electronic Health Record data to analyze the care continuum of persons with chronic hepatitis C.

May, 2022
I'm nearing the end of the EIS fellowship. Two years has really flown by. I was able to work on many COVID projects (including this one), led the first CDC analysis of county breastfeeding rates, and investigated health effects of a large chemical fire.

I'm staying at CDC in my division as an informatics health scientist. I'll be studying physical activity and the built environment. This new role combines traditional epidemiology with data modernization efforts to diversify data sources and analytic methods. I can't thank this team enough for encouraging and supporting me during grad school to explore data science and informatics. I know I wouldn't be here without you all!