Amy Ushry, MPH, BSN, RN is the recipient of the NEF Rita Reis Wieczorek Scholarship for Maternal-Infant and Pediatric Nursing. She is a doctoral student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing in Baltimore, Maryland. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Public Health, Bachelor of Science in Nursing, and Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University. Ms. Ushry was drawn to public health nursing because of its unique intersections between individual-level care, community-level impact, and systems-level change. In her public health nursing career, she has worked as a Registered Nurse Care Coordinator providing maternal health outreach and care coordination in Baltimore City. She has also worked as a Senior Nurse Program Manager contributing to national quality improvement efforts for the reduction of maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity.

Ms. Ushry chose to pursue a PhD in nursing due to her passion for advancing research that supports maternal health equity. Driven by this passion, Ms. Ushry has been a research assistant on numerous maternal health and health equity-related research projects within the University including research on the qualitative evaluation of implicit bias training for maternal health providers, prevention and assessment of intimate partner homicide, and support for depression and pain management among older African American women. She currently supports the Healthy for Two – Home Visiting research study examining the impact of health coaching for cardiometabolic disease risk reduction among pregnant and postpartum individuals in Maryland. Participating in this research has inspired her to explore dissertation work on neighborhood-level food environments and outcomes of health coaching for this population.

Upon completing the doctoral program, Ms. Ushry plans to develop an equity-focused program of research. Her belief in the importance of listening to community members and engaging in genuine partnerships has shaped her selection of doctoral coursework to include training in community-based participatory research, storytelling for public health, and health equity research methods. Ms. Ushry aims to use the training gained in her doctoral studies to translate research findings into implementable changes in clinical and community settings.

Ms. Ushry is grateful to have been awarded this esteemed scholarship which will support her dissertation work and propel her towards her goal of becoming a leader in equity-based maternal health nursing research.