Jennifer Bottoms-Robb

Jennifer Bottoms-Robb, BSN, RNC-NIC is honored to be a recipient of the Johnson & Johnson Edwidge Thomas Health Equity Scholarship. Jennifer has worked as a Neonatal ICU nurse for the past 19 years, spending the majority of that time at Northwell Health’s Cohen Children’s Medical Center. She loves caring for the neonate population, and educating and supporting their parents from admission to discharge.

When Jennifer began her post-secondary educational journey, her goal was to become a clinical psychologist. She received her bachelor's degree in psychology from Morgan State University. After working in a non-clinical capacity for several years in healthcare and later in the restaurant industry, Jennifer felt unfulfilled. She decided to return to school in order to truly make a difference in the lives of the most vulnerable. She pursued nursing as a second career and obtained her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Columbia University.

Jennifer is currently enrolled in the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing at Hunter College, studying to obtain her master's degree and become a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. She chose Hunter College because of its excellent reputation for educating NYC’s future professionals and for the flexibility of its hybrid educational program. Jennifer has always been passionate about mental health and is excited to redirect her career toward this much-needed specialty. In particular, Jennifer would like to use her degree to help individuals in the Black community, who have been underserved for many years and have grappled with issues including intergenerational trauma, distrust of healthcare professionals, lack of resources, and stigma. Jennifer wants to bridge the gap that exists due to the lack of mental health providers of color, which, in many cases, is a barrier to seeking treatment. She looks forward to further exploring how to best aid her community in a few specific areas of interest. Jennifer’s primary interest is to create a safe and culturally competent space for Black families to combat the aforementioned barriers to optimal mental health. Secondly, she would like to assist young people in tackling their mental health issues early with the hope of preventing more severe mental illness from developing in the future. Lastly, as a result of the higher rate of infant mortality among Black Americans, she is also interested in helping NICU parents work through the unique mental health challenges that arise due to an extended hospital stay with a critically ill child. Her long career as a NICU nurse has made it clear that this area requires more focus. Through her studies and clinical experiences at Hunter College, Jennifer plans to delve further into these areas to determine how she can most effectively make a difference.

A single mother who works part-time and attends school full-time, Jennifer also has a daughter who is working to obtain her undergraduate degree. Jennifer is sincerely grateful for the generosity of Johnson & Johnson, Dr. Edwidge Thomas, and Nurses Educational Fund, Inc. for helping to alleviate her financial burden for the coming year. She appreciates their dedication to the cause of health equity and to underrepresented groups in healthcare professions.