School of Nursing happenings
Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing faculty, students and scholars continually participate in lectures, speaker series, symposiums and other special events that reflect the school's vision and mission to transform health care through nursing education and research. This frequently updated list is a sample of the breadth of such activities.
2025 Happenings
April 25 — Associate professor awarded UC Davis Chancellor’s Award
Jessica Draughon Moret, an associate professor at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis, was awarded the 2025 Chancellor’s Achievement Award for Diversity and Community. She is one of six recipients honored for making a difference in moving UC Davis toward a more diverse and inclusive campus community. UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May said this year’s honorees help the university to “deepen our connections with each other and supporting our increasingly diverse communities.” Jessica’s research focuses on structural and independent factors contributing to women’s health disparities. She is also a fellow in the Betty Irene Moore Fellowship for Nurse Leaders and Innovators.
April 11 — Doctoral candidate awarded best paper at national burn conference
Ingrid Parry, a doctoral candidate at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis, was awarded best Clinical Research Paper Award at the 2025 annual meeting of the American Burn Association (ABA) in Phoenix. Her study, “Using Cutaneous Functional Units (CFUs) to understand burn characteristics associated with range of motion at hospital discharge in adult burn survivors,” assesses acute burn characteristics associated with scar contractures after burn injury. Using a novel framework that evaluates how skin accommodates limb and body motion, she seeks to better predict the patients and body areas that are vulnerable to developing motion problems. The goal is that this information can be used to guide more targeted and personalized interventions for burn survivors to prevent them from experiencing burn scar contractures and other negative scar problems. Ingrid is a physical therapist and researcher at Shriners Children’s Northern California. She was president of the (ABA) for the 2022-2023 year, which was the organizations first non-surgeon/non-physician president. Ingrid is in her final year of the Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing Science and Health-care Leadership program.
April 2— Nursing faculty publishes study in nursing journal
Edna Esquer, an assistant clinical professor at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis published “The Association of Chronic Stress and Metabolic Syndrome in Mexican American Women Living in a Rural Community along the US-Mexico Border” in the Open Journal of Nursing. The study seeks to describe the differences and associations in chronic stress, social support, health behavior and the presence of metabolic syndrome in Mexican American women living in a rural community along the California U.S.-Mexico border. She concluded that early recognition of cardiometabolic risks and improving health behaviors are essential to avoid adverse health consequences for these women. Edna is a family nurse practitioner who teaches in the Doctor of Nursing Practice — Family Nurse Practitioner Degree Program. She has cared for the medically disadvantaged populations of the California US-Mexican Border for more than two decades.
April 1— PA faculty testifies at state capitol
Emily Thatcher, an assistant professor in the physician assistant program at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis, provided testimony at a California senate hearing on oversight requirements for PAs in practice. Asked by the California Academy of Physician Associates (CAPA) to speak, Emily advocated for expanding access to care for Californians by requesting the current supervising physician ratio law be amended. According to Business and Professions Code (BPC) 3516 (b), a physician and surgeon can supervise up to four PAs at any one time for direct patient care and prescribing medication. Emily argued that limits the amount of practicing PAs in the state.
April 1— PhD alumni win nursing innovation awards
Sheridan Miyamoto and Michelle Camicia, both Doctor of Philosophy graduates from the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis, are winners in the ANA Innovation Awards from the American Nurses Association. Sheridan won the Nurse-Led Team Award for the SAFE-T System, which she developed with her team at Penn State. The telehealth-enabled forensic care model delivers expert sexual assault care and evidence collection to survivors in rural and underserved suburban communities, where access to medical, legal and emotional support is often scarce or unavailable. Michelle received an honorable mention for her Path2Caregiving. The program integrates a freely accessible, evidence-based PATH assessment tool — designed to evaluate caregiver preparedness for patient transitions home — with a customized caregiver intervention. The awards highlight, recognize and celebrate nurse-led innovation that improves patient safety outcomes.
Shelly Fritz, a professor at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis, hosted the Building Global Gero Center for Nursing Science: Community Event and Workshop. The two-day event brought together more than 50 leaders in gerontology nursing and technology research from around the world. They arrived at the consensus that there’s a need for a nurse-led geron-technology innovation space to optimize clinical translation and improve implementation and meaningful use. Shelly says members value older adults, health and innovation, along with fostering and sharing knowledge and skills and cross-country connections. She reports that next steps include writing paper about the idea of a center, this workshop and the process of developing the center, as well as symposiums at upcoming conferences. The event was sponsored by a grant from UC Davis Global Affairs and the Healthy Aging in a Digital World initiative.Feb. 26— PA faculty co-authors report in national journal
Emily Thatcher, an assistant professor in the physician assistant program at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis, co-authored “Urologic Emergencies: Five Do-Not-Miss Diagnoses” in Physician Assistant Clinics. The authors discuss five urologic emergencies, including acute urinary retention, Fournier’s gangrene, testicular torsion, priapism and paraphimosis. They conclude that while many urologic conditions do not lead to significant long-term morbidity or mortality, clinicians should consider emergent conditions in their differential diagnosis when evaluating patients with acute symptoms. The journal aims to provide an authoritative and continuously updated clinical information resource that covers all relevant PA specialties.
Feb. 22 — PA faculty presents at regional conference
Phil Emond, an assistant professor in the physician assistant program at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis, presented “Evaluation of Painful Limp in Children” at the California Academy of Physician Associates (CAPA) Sonoma Symposium. His talk identified presenting conditions, reviewed approaches and workup and discussed treatment and referral guidelines. The conference offered a full day dedicated to clinical topics, with a focus on primary care and urgent care/emergency medicine. CAPA is the primary organization supporting PAs’ professional needs and advancing the profession in California.
Laura Van Auker, an associate professor at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis, is being recognized for her outstanding global engagement work with the Chancellor’s Award for International Engagement. The award recognizes faculty and staff members for outstanding global engagement in advancing the university’s teaching, research and service missions. Her nominators shared that she leveraged 25 years of volunteer experience with the Health Education Africa Resource Team (HEART) to create transformative opportunities for UC Davis students and faculty to engage in primary care medical camps in rural Kenya, enhancing health care access and empowering communities through team-based care. Laura brings expertise in health care policy promoting the use of advanced practice registered nurses to improve community health and access, particularly for underserved, diverse and rural communities.
The Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing Physician Assistant (PA) program, along with the UC Davis Library, hosted a panel presentation, "Who’s My Clinician? Advanced Practice Providers (APPs) in Team-Based Health care." Roughly 120 people attended to learn more about the roles and responsibilities of various health care professionals and how to build teamwork behaviors that leverage the expertise of various professions to enhance collaboration and improve patient outcomes. A panel of nurse practitioners, PAs, and doctors — including Amber Ramage, Keoki Leong, Kathleen Schneider, Diana Nguyen and Jeffrey Vitt — discussed the challenges and opportunities for fostering positive teamwork behaviors that harness the expertise of various professions to boost collaboration and enhance patient outcomes.Jan. 16 — Nursing faculty present poster exploring DNP scholarly project dissemination
Associate Professor Charleen Singh and Assistant Professor Joanne Minnick, both from the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis, presented "Finding a Place....Dissemination of DNP Projects" at the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Doctoral Education Conference in San Diego. They discussed discuss the various ways of dissemination available to Doctor of Nursing Practice students and faculty and advocated for the need to educate and involve stakeholders to improve support for the dissemination of project outcomes. The School of Nursing graduates its inaugural cohort of the Doctor of Nursing Practice — Family Nurse Practitioner Degree Program this June. The conference explores national trends in doctoral nursing education, strategies to increase enrollment and ways to increase or maintain rigor in terminal degree programs.
Jan. 15 — Doctoral candidate awarded grant from national nursing board
Kate Turpin, an education program designer and doctoral candidate at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, was awarded a $10,500 grant from the National Council of State Boards of Nursing for her project “Navigating Academic Support: A Thematic Analysis of Nursing Educators Responses to CCNE Standard II-C.” The study seeks to examine how U.S. nursing programs define, implement and evaluate academic support services in response to CCNE Standard II-C. (II-C is the only standard that directly addresses student resources.) Kate hopes to develop an operational framework for standards for academic support that can enhance student success and retention. CCNE is the nation’s leading accrediting agency for baccalaureate, master’s and Doctor of Nursing practice programs, as well as postbaccalaureate nurse residency and post-graduate advanced-practice registered nurse certificates.
Jan. 14 — Nursing faculty wins national award for textbook
Victoria Keeton, an assistant professor at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis, won third place from the American Journal of Nursing for a textbook she co-edited. “Pediatric Physical Examination: An Illustrated Handbook” was awarded in the child health category. It is a resource designed to assist NPs and primary care providers in performing physical exams. The handbook covers body systems from fetal development through all the developmental stages of childhood, providing a comprehensive approach to pediatric assessment. This book includes new features, including “Telehealth Tips” that address the use of virtual visits in clinical practice. It also provides updated coverage of topics like maltreatment, mental and behavioral health, and social determinants of health. Since 1969, the American Journal of Nursing, in service of its mission to “promote excellence in nursing and health care,” has published a list of the best nursing books of that year.
Past Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing Happenings
