Unleashing the Force of Transitional and Home Care

Dwayne Dobschuetz, APRN, Geriatric Nurse Practitioner at Northwestern Medicine and University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Nursing alumnus, started checking in on older patients, as he rode his bicycle home from work. The experience inspired him to go back to school at age 65 to become an advanced practice nurse, and led to his current home care role.

Catalyst for Change

“I’ve been called a catalyst before and I believe that I am one. Challenge the status quo in constructive ways so you can achieve results in the system,” says Rachel Azanleko-Akouete, a recent graduate of the master’s in public health program at UW–Madison and BSN alumna. “We really need to inspire that next generation of researchers and public health nurses.”

Family, Faith, Fellowship, and Fitness

For Uchenna Jones ’02, ’09, it’s all about family. As a labor and delivery nurse at St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison, she helps start new families. And as the organizer of both the Madison Gospel 5K and the W1N Crew walking group and the co-founder of the Sole Sistas Run Madtown running group, she helps keep those families healthy.

UW Alumna Sadat Abiri’s Global Fight Against Mental Health Stigma

Sadat Abiri ’99, MSN ’10, MPH ’12 is a psychiatric/mental health nurse practitioner and a mental health advocate, particularly for immigrants and the homeless. Abiri is bringing leaders and psychiatrists from Africa to Madison to continue their conversation about dispelling mental health myths and stigma as well as to increase access to mental health care.

Taking It All In

Emily Schumacher graduated in 2010 and entered practice in an oncology, neurology, and neurosurgery unit at American Family Children’s Hospital. Three years later, she enrolled part-time in the Doctor of Nursing Practice program, which she will complete this spring. “I found what I was supposed to do. It was nursing,” she says. “It was a combination of all the things I love.”