Danica Dorlette

Danica Dorlette, MPhil, MPH, RN, OCN is the recipient of a 2024 Johnson & Johnson Edwidge Thomas Health Equity Scholarship. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing, at CUNY Hunter College, and Master of Public Health from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. Currently, she is a PhD Candidate at Columbia University School of Nursing under the mentorship of Dr. Arlene Smaldone and Dr. Jingjing Shang. Danica’s inspiration to become a registered nurse came from her mother, who works as a home health aide. Accompanying her mother to work as a child, she learned the importance of compassionate, personalized care. Her mother introduced her to the art of caring for others within the unique context of their lives, demonstrating how transformative that care can be. This inspired Danica to pursue a career in nursing.

Danica thrives in collaborative environments focused on providing quality care, whether to individuals or whole populations. With over 10 years of clinical experience specializing in hematologic malignancies, she currently serves as a Nurse Clinician on a Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant Unit. During this time, Danica has extended her care and advocacy beyond the bedside. Her creative innovations for humanizing healthcare and improving patient and family experiences have been recognized by her facility and the Joint Commission as a “best practice.” She developed a multilingual intervention for symptom reporting in oncology patients with limited English proficiency and founded an interdisciplinary workshop that has educated over 100 informal caregivers of stem cell recipients on symptom management, home safety, and caregiver burden management. Danica has also collaborated with the CDC, the NYC DOHMH, and grassroots organizations to address concerns of vulnerable communities through research, program development, and community mobilization. These experiences are what sparked her interest in research.

Her current research interests focus on the role of residential environments—such as homelessness, housing instability, and neighborhood deprivation—on oncologic patient outcomes and health services utilization. This interest is deeply personal, rooted in the health struggles she and her mother faced while living in substandard housing during her youth. Danica aims to be an advocate for people in similar circumstances.

Receiving the Johnson & Johnson Edwidge Thomas Health Equity Scholarship from Dr. Edwidge Thomas is profoundly meaningful to Danica. It not only alleviates the financial burdens associated with her studies but also represents a vote of confidence in her potential to positively contribute to the field of nursing. This support enables her to continue her research and advocacy, particularly for those living in unfavorable environments who are often overlooked. Danica is a member of several professional organizations, including the New York Academy of Medicine, the Delta Omega Honorary Society of Public Health, the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing, and the Oncology Nursing Society. She is also a member of the ASTCT-NMDP ACCESS Initiative, which addresses and sustains equity in cell therapy.

In her free time, Danica enjoys singing, painting, and traveling with her spouse and family.