The recipient of the 2025-2026 NEF Isabel Hampton Robb scholarship is Yoonjae Lee, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC. Currently she is a PhD student at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing) and received her BSN from Ewha Womans University in South Korea, DNP from the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, and a Biomedical Informatics Certificate from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.

With nearly a decade of clinical experience as an inpatient rehabilitation nurse in both South Korea and the U.S., Yoonjae has cared for patients with complex pain conditions and has witnessed the ongoing challenges of providing effective and safe pain management. While opioids are widely used for their effective pain relief, they also carry significant risks of misuse and addiction. One of the most difficult aspects of her practice was navigating the balance between providing optimal pain relief and preventing opioid-related adverse outcomes. Motivated by this dilemma in pain management, Yoonjae led a quality improvement project at Johns Hopkins as part of her DNP scholarly project, which demonstrated significant improvements in pain self-efficacy and patient satisfaction among orthopedic postsurgical patients through a targeted video-based educational intervention.

This DNP work broadened her scholarly perspective and deepened her passion for expanding her contributions beyond clinical practice to original scientific research. At Penn Nursing, she is building a strong theoretical, methodological, and analytical foundation for research through exceptional mentorship and rigorous training. Recognizing the growing role of artificial intelligence and big data in healthcare and their potential to support safer opioid use, she is integrating data science into her research on pain and opioids. Collaborating with interdisciplinary experts and mentors in medicine, biomedical informatics, and computer science, her dissertation focuses on preventing persistent opioid use and subsequent problematic opioid use after surgery with machine learning and natural language processing methods. Yoonjae believes that technological advancement holds great promise in transforming how we monitor, predict, and ensure the safe use of opioids.

Her academic achievements and leadership potential have been recognized through numerous awards, including those from the Global Korean Nursing Foundation, Korean American Scientists and Engineers Association, Eastern Nursing Research Society, Sigma Theta Tau, the American Society for Pain Management Nursing, and the United States Association for the Study of Pain, among others.

Yoonjae is honored to receive this distinguished scholarship and is deeply grateful to NEF. This award not only reinforces her dedication to advancing nursing science but also supports her ongoing development in this field. She strongly believes that nurses, as the largest group of healthcare professionals, should stand at the forefront of preventing the unintended consequences of opioid use while ensuring effective pain care. By embracing NEF’s mission and vision, she will continue to grow as a nurse scientist, educator, and leader, making meaningful contributions to the advancement of nursing and healthcare.