Winner of the Margaret Gould Tyson Memorial Scholarship, Melanie Applegate completed her bachelor’s degrees at University of Rochester in health and society and in music, and spent a semester interning at the Department of Health in London, UK. She completed her Masters of Science in Nursing at Yale School of Nursing with a Family Nurse Practitioner degree. During this time she worked as an RN at the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp providing care for children with cancer and serious blood diseases. Since graduating in 2010 Melanie has worked as a nurse practitioner at the New York University Langone Medical Center Department of Population Health and at Bellevue Hospital. Here she sees patients in adult outpatient primary care, and is leading a randomized controlled trial using evidence-based clinic protocols to improve preventive care outcomes through personalization and prioritization of care.

Melanie is now in her second year of study pursuing a Doctor of Nursing Practice at New York University Rory Meyer’s College of Nursing. Her doctoral project is focused on improving transition readiness in caregivers of adolescent patients with cerebral palsy as they transition from pediatric to adult healthcare. She hopes to use this DNP degree to effectively translate evidence-based knowledge into clinical practice to improve healthcare and to teach future generations of nursing students.