Nadège Dorcelly

Nadège Dorcelly, MSN, RN is a recipient of the Liesel M. Hiemenz Scholarship. She is currently a Psychiatric and Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) – Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) candidate at Columbia University School of Nursing. She has years of practice as a registered pediatric nurse at institutions including New York Presbyterian Hospital-Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital in Manhattan, NY, Elizabeth Seton Children’s Center in Yonkers, NY, and J&D UltraCare, a pediatric home care agency in Rockland County, NY. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Fairfield University Egan School of Nursing where she graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2016 and received her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from SUNY Stony Brook 2010.

Her heart for service has guided her path to nursing. For 10 years, Nadège volunteered as a patient advocate and health educator to a community of primarily Haitian immigrants in her hometown of Rockland County, NY. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she was moved by the number of adolescents who were admitted to the medical unit after having suicide attempts. This motivated her to obtain her DNP, PMHNP from Columbia University where there is an emphasis on psychotherapy and global leadership, and the mission is to innovate, lead and transform as global leaders.

Nadège is passionate about closing the gap that limits access to quality care for marginalized communities, especially for Black and Indigenous people of color (BIPOC) who suffer from trauma related PTSD and addictions. She served as a research assistant in the CHOSEN Bronx Opioid Collective Outreach Program, a pilot study in the South Bronx, NY that aims to identify the association between drug use and wounds in order supply wound care services to the community of users. The goal is to mitigate the crisis of prolonged wound healing and wound infections amongst individuals who use drugs. In the field, she implemented risk reduction strategies, like the provision of clean needles, to minimize the risk of infection and she instructed IV drug users on the importance of antiseptic technique and how to apply it. She also interviewed residents in the South Bronx to collect data and identify the prevalence of substance use related wounds and used motivational interviewing techniques to encourage participants to seek medical attention. Nadège is also a Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training Program for Professionals (BHWET) intern at Columbia University. She learns and implements the best practices of trauma informed care in New York City, and leads workshops teaching students in grades 1-8 healthy coping skills and other evidence-based interventions used to manage trauma and other mental health related issues. She serves as a PMHNP intern at Mosaic Mental Health, a grassroots organization in the Bronx, NY, where she manages the treatment and medication management of about 30 adolescents from New York City.

Obtaining a DNP will offer Nadège the opportunity to innovatively address the mental health needs of underserved communities, starting in Rockland County and New York City. The NEF scholarship will support her in serving this population.