Funded
Two PhD students with GRAs tell their stories
by Victoria Ellwood
Two College of Nursing graduate research associates (GRAs) in The Ohio State University College of Nursing's PhD program may hail from opposite sides of America, but they have a few things in common.
Both were drawn to Ohio State because of the college’s research reputation. Both strive to temper health disparities in minority populations. And both say a little funding assist from the college didn’t hurt, either.
Jessica Sherman grew up in Virginia, and is working on her PhD with a research interest in healthcare inequities among racial, gender and sexual minorities. Melissa Wong – a lifelong Californian – is pursuing her degree with a focus on breast and cervical cancer prevention in the Asian-American community.
Both were granted GRA positions and funding – including tuition and stipends – from the College of Nursing. That’s a critical component, and benefits not only the students but the faculty and college too, according to Rita Pickler, PhD, RN, FAAN, the director of the PhD and MS in Nursing Science programs.
“There are only 135 PhD programs in nursing in the country, and unlike many clinical programs, there often isn’t a lot of funding available,” Pickler said. “We need nurse scientists. The funding is critical so students can pursue their program full-time and launch their research career. Helping them get to the business of their research is valuable for them, for the profession and ultimately for the public.”
The College of Nursing funds two GRA positions every two years. They are funded by and assigned to the college’s centers. Sherman’s GRA is with the Martha S. Pitzer Center for Women, Children and Youth. Wong’s is with the Center for Healthy Aging, Self-Management and Complex Care.
“While completing their degrees, the students work under the auspices of the center directors,” Pickler explained. “They are directly assigned to various faculty throughout the year to help with that faculty’s research work, in addition to pursuing their own. It’s a plus for the faculty, but the students really benefit by working with a broad group of researchers. They get involved in many different research projects and topics and many different research methods. It’s a win-win for everyone.”
Jessica Sherman: We have to fix this
Sherman earned her nursing degrees in Virginia and wound up in Ohio when she and her husband relocated for his job. “I spent the past few years working [as a nurse practitioner] with HIV treatment and prevention, and gender-affirming medical care at Equitas Health in Columbus.”
Her experiences there are what propelled her to Ohio State. “In my practice, I saw every day the effects of racial inequities combined with sexual minority inequities. HIV is now preventable, but every week I’d see young, gay Black men being diagnosed with HIV – an illness that is highly stigmatized and life changing. It made me ask, 'How does this happen? How did we get here?'
“We have to fix this.”
Sherman was drawn to Ohio State’s College of Nursing because of “its focus on health determinants and the idea that health is influenced by factors not only at the individual level but also at societal and systemic levels.”
While current studies may look at correlations between illness and minorities, research is scarcer when it comes to intervention. “We need to think outside the box,” she said. “I want to have a role – even a small one – in moving forward both in conducting research and helping narrow the health disparities among racial, gender and sexual minorities.”
In the meantime, Sherman is embracing the opportunity to work with three different faculty researchers. “That’s an added bonus,” she said. “I’m developing phenomenal skills, from how to write the introduction to a manuscript to how to do deep literature dives. It’s helping me develop the research skills I’ll need.”
Sherman, who said she loves being a Buckeye, admits it wouldn’t have been possible without the funding support. “That helps one hundred percent. I genuinely would not be getting my PhD degree otherwise.”
What is her ultimate goal? “I really, really love doing clinical work, which can be somewhat at odds with doing research work,” she said. “But I believe ultimately they will complement each other. Maybe I’ll be able to understand both perspectives more.”
Melissa Wong: I had to follow the research
Melissa Wong plans a research focus on breast and cervical cancer prevention in the Asian-American community.
“How do we get more people to do mammograms, pap tests and HIV prevention?” she said. “It’s a topic that was like a light bulb for me. I knew that’s what I wanted to study, looking into why there is a gap in interventions, and how to find what might make a difference.”
Wong was happily ensconced on the west coast, and had planned to pursue her PhD at a university in Oregon, but when the researcher she wanted to study with there was unavailable, she embarked on an aggressive cross-country search.
“I knew I had to follow the research,” she said. A friend in Pennsylvania teamed up with Wong to look for the right fit, checking out every university and faculty profile online they could find. They started on opposite sides of the country and worked inward. At Ohio State, Wong found the right research mentor in Jennifer Kue, PhD. “It’s ironic; the population I want to study is out in California, but the researcher I want to work with is in Ohio,” Wong said. The funding assistance definitely made a difference, but the real draw for her was Ohio State’s research strength.
Wong has yet to visit Ohio, but will relocate when PhD students return to campus. In the meantime, she says her free time is pretty much devoted to schoolwork ... and a little K-pop. “When you have to write a 10-page theory paper, you listen to so much K-pop,” she said.
The current GRA funding program has been in place just a few years, initiated at Pickler’s insistence. What do the faculty think of it? “Their reaction is very positive. There’s a lot of variety in how the students interact with them, but in all cases it’s been a real benefit to the faculty researchers,” Pickler said. “On a broader scale, the reputation of our PhD program grows with the quality of our ‘product.’ So when we are able to produce graduates who then go out and do good work in the world, it reflects back on the college and the university.”