Hillman Scholar Elizabeth Finnessy awarded Community Engagement Fellowship

The UNC School of Nursing proudly announces Hillman Scholar and PhD student, Elizabeth Finnessy, BSN, RN, as the recipient of the Community Engagement Fellowship, in collaboration with the Carolina Center for Public Service. Elizabeth, alongside Mary Kelly McHugh from the Gillings School of Global Public Health, has been selected for their project, “Shifting Power through Communication: Bi-Directional Conversation Guides for Patients and Clinicians.”

Working in partnership with Jennifer Medearis-Costello and the ACHIEVE Community Coalition, Elizabeth and Kelly will embark on a project aimed at enhancing communication between patients and clinicians regarding hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP). Under the guidance of Alexandra Lightfoot, EdD, their advisor on the project, they will develop resources to facilitate respectful and effective dialogue, addressing the urgent health situation of HDP.

The fellowship, awarded to a maximum of eight returning, full-time graduate and professional students at UNC-Chapel Hill, provides up to $2,500 for engagement or engaged scholarship projects that respond to community priorities while maintaining an academic connection. The fellowship period runs from March through November.

The project, funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and conducted in collaboration with the ACHIEVE Community Engagement team, utilizes a human-centered design approach in the development of bi-directional conversation guides. These guides aim to empower patients and clinicians alike, fostering a collaborative approach to addressing HDP and advancing equity in healthcare.

For more information about this project and other fellowship recipients, please visit ccps.unc.edu/awards-fellowships/community-engagement-fellowships/