2020 Tillman Scholar
Three weeks after her college graduation, Emma left the United States to serve as a Peace Corps volunteer in Burkina Faso and while in Burkina, she was first introduced to caring for communities. This experience prompted Emma to begin working for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) upon her return to the States, focusing on community health. A special CDC Ebola Response deployment to West Africa ignited yet another passion: emergency nursing and disaster response.
Following her desire for a hands-on and preventative approach to healthcare, Emma entered nursing school with strong leadership skills and the goal of working in emergency medicine. After graduation Emma began working as an emergency nurse where she could best make connections between her hospital and her community. She has since returned to Emory University to receive her doctor of nursing practice (D.N.P.) degree to become a dual-certified emergency and family nurse practitioner. Just as Emma returned to school to pursue her passion, her husband simultaneously found a way to serve their country and joined the U.S. Army.
Emma is pursuing a D.N.P. degree to see the big picture of healthcare and utilize her previous skills to make quality changes in healthcare that benefit both communities and her patients. Due to Emma’s previous experience in public health, she hopes to join evidence-based patient care with organizational and community goals to create quality and sustainable health plans for her community.