Laika Maganga awarded Jonas Scholarship for 2024-2026 cohort

Laika Maganga’s journey into the world of nursing began with a simple act of volunteering at a local hospital during high school. There, she witnessed nurses providing care with compassion and expertise, leaving a lasting impression on her young mind.

This early experience set Laika on a path of passion and purpose, culminating in her being awarded the Jonas Scholarship for the 2024-2026 cohort. Now a BSN-PhD student and Hillman Scholar at UNC School of Nursing, Laika is driven to make a difference in the lives of marginalized communities.

Her interest in nursing deepened as she worked as a bedside medicine-psychiatric nurse, finding great reward in helping individuals with severe psychiatric and mental illnesses progress to wellness. This experience sparked her ambition to address health disparities related to stigma among socially disadvantaged and marginalized communities living with HIV. “As a nurse researcher, I aspire to explore and mitigate these disparities,” Laika shares. “In the future, I intend to pursue a faculty position at a high-level research institution and become an independent investigator in HIV research.”

The Jonas Scholarship, supported by Jonas Nursing and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, is designed to help future nurse educators like Laika. The program addresses the nation’s shortage of nursing faculty, a key barrier to expanding student capacity in nursing schools. Laika’s vision for her future as a faculty member includes conducting rigorous research to develop innovative interventions that help underserved populations cope with HIV stigma and improve their health outcomes.

Laika’s research focuses on the interplay of health, stigma, and culture within the Malawian context. Specifically, her dissertation will explore the consequences of HIV stigma among young Malawian women living with HIV. She plans to develop an ethnodrama intervention, a dramatized retelling of lived experiences, to educate and promote positive coping mechanisms among these young women. This intervention, rooted in Malawian culture, aims to use entertainment to educate, promote mental wellness, and encourage proper management of HIV.

Her passion for her work is evident as she talks about her future goals. “I hope to engage in meaningful collaborations with community partners and professionals across multiple disciplines to ensure my research is robust and relevant,” she says. “I also want to create a stimulating and nurturing environment for emerging nurse scientists and foster international collaborations to address global health issues.”

“This opportunity will expose Laika to new opportunities, ideas, and experiences that complement her PhD research and scholarly training,” said Cheryl Jones, PhD, RN, FAAN, Associate Dean of the PhD Division and PhD-Postdoctoral Programs. “By expanding her knowledge of leadership, she will be prepared for future roles at the intersection of research, teaching, scholarship, and practice. We are so proud of Laika and look forward to the experiences she will bring back to enhance our Carolina Nursing community of scholars.”

The Jonas Scholarship provides Laika with $12,000 in support for tuition and other academic expenses, and pairs her with a mentor to guide her development as a future nursing faculty member. Laika’s story is a testament to the impact of the Jonas Scholars program, which has invested over $28 million in nearly 1,500 nurse scholars across all 50 states since 2006.

For more information about Jonas Nursing, visit aacnnursing.org/jonas-nursing.

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