Congratulations to the Newly Promoted Faculty in the School of Nursing!

Here we recognize and celebrate Duke colleagues who recently achieved promotion, and even tenure, in the School of Nursing. Earning a promotion after a rigorous review process by peers and leaders inside and outside Duke is a testament to the caliber of each individual faculty member and the impact of their research, teaching and mentoring, and their reputation among their peers. It is also, in a way, an invitation to be a partner in shaping the future of Duke and its mission, playing a role in advancing its academic excellence and making it a more equitable and engaged institution. Congratulations!

Promoted to Associate Professor 

Tolulupe Oyesanya, Associate Professor in the School of Nursing
Tolu Oyesanya, PhD, RN, is a member of the Healthcare in Adult Populations Division. Dr. Oyesanya’s research program centers on care of patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) in acute and post-acute treatment settings, as well as support of their family caregivers. Her current research focuses on transitional care needs of patients with TBI, with an emphasis on improving post-discharge self- and family-management of care. Her long-term research goals are to: 1) improve self- and family-management of care for persons with TBI and their family caregivers and 2) decrease readmissions for persons with TBI. Dr. Oyesanya earned her BSN, MSN, and PhD in Nursing from University of Wisconsin-Madison. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Brain Injury Research at Shepherd Center in Atlanta, GA. Her research has been supported by federally- and internally funded awards. Dr. Oyesanya is actively involved in several professional organizations, including serving as Chair of the Mentoring Task Force of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and as a member of the Association of Rehabilitation Nurses and the International Brain Injury Association. 

Appointment Date: February 1, 2021

Schenita D. Randolph, Associate Professor in the School of Nursing
Dr. Schenita Randolph is an Associate Professor at Duke School of Nursing and has been a registered nurse for over 20 years.  She is advancing the nursing science by addressing the root causes of sexual health inequities for Black male adolescents and women. The impact of Dr. Randolph’s work addresses sexual health inequities among Black male adolescents and young adults (AYA) and Black women in the United States through community and stakeholder engagement approaches.  Dr. Randolph’s research is shifting the approach to sexual health among Black AYA with the first nurse-led, parent-adolescent intervention providing tools for parents to address HIV risk transmission and racial discrimination as interrelated public health issues. She is also addressing sexual health inequities among Black women by addressing barriers to HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) (a medication if taken consistently decreases HIV risk) such as PrEP stigma and distrust, as PrEP uptake among Black women is low, and interventions are limited. Her work has received national attention in the popular media and has been supported by public and private funders. She received her Ph.D. from Walden University in 2011. She is passionate about partnering with the community to address inequities in health through socially and culturally relevant strategies.

Appointment Date: June 1, 2021

Promoted to Clinical Professor

Brigit Carter, Clinical Professor in the School of Nursing
Dr. Brigit Carter, Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion, joined the Duke University School of Nursing (DUSON) in 2010. From 2015-2018 she served as the Director of the DUSON Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program. She teaches in both the DNP and Accelerated BSN program. Dr. Carter earned her BSN at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) in 1998, a Master’s of Science in Nursing Education from University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2002 and PhD in Nursing from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2009. She has served as the project director for two HRSA Nursing Workforce Diversity grants at DUSON. The current grant, The Academy for Academic and Social Enrichment and Leadership Development for Health Equity II (The Health Equity Academy II)”, focus is to increase underrepresented minorities in nursing and understanding of social determinants among undergraduate nursing students. She has served as the Academic Coordinator for the Health Equity Academy and the preceding grant, Making a Difference in Nursing. Dr. Carter's clinical research focuses on nursing care of premature infants (<1500 grams) with feeding intolerance and identification of measurable methods for early detection of feeding intolerance. She continues her clinical practice as a staff nurse in the Duke University Hospital Intensive Care Nursery, where she has 21 years’ experience.

Appointment Date: April 1, 2021

Promoted to Associate Clinical Professor

Ragan Johnson, Associate Clinical Professor in the School of Nursing
Dr. Ragan Johnson, DNP, FNP-BC, CNE, is an assistant clinical professor at Duke University School of Nursing. Dr. Johnson earned a DNP with a public health concentration in 2012 and a MS in Nursing in 2005, both from The University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, TN. She received her BS in nursing from Tennessee State University in 2001. Her nursing and advanced practice nursing career has focused on improving health equity and caring for patients from underserved communities. Dr. Johnson has focused her scholarship on translating evidence-based interventions to the communities at risk. She has a strong passion for reducing new infections of HIV among Black adolescents and young adults. She has used barbers and barber shops as community venues to reach hardly reached populations, at places and with the people they trust. Currently, Dr. Johnson is serving as Co-Investigator on one funded grant for Black women in salons to increase knowledge, awareness, and utility of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). She is also Co-Investigator on a second grant aimed to increase conversations between Black fathers and sons around healthy sexual behavior. 

Appointment Date: August 1, 2021