Charmaine Lastimoso

As the daughter of educators who traveled and worked in countries in southern Africa and an adolescent immigrant having mostly grown up in Las Vegas, NV where social services are generally not prioritized, I became aware of social disparities and their consequences at an early age. I could not really process those lessons until I was an undergraduate on a pre-med track, but when I did, I hoped to find a career that would allow me to effectively tackle broader issues and also allow me to work with patients. The former became more of a priority; I felt that I could affect the most change as an epidemiologist, researching epidemics caused by poverty and other forms of disenfranchisement. And for a time, that was enough. That path led me to work among an inspiring group of people researching tuberculosis (TB) and HIV/AIDS in resource-poor settings globally. My research activities eventually focused on a study of TB patients with co-occurring alcohol use disorders in Tomsk, Western Siberia in the Russian Federation. Their daily challenges taught me hard lessons about institutional neglect and the detrimental effects of entrenched belief, strengthening my resolve to help them and others in similarly disempowering situations. There is no question that this job has been fulfilling; at the same time, I yearned to work directly with our patients, and I knew that I needed to revisit my old dream in order to accomplish that.   

I have wonderful nursing role models among scores of relatives working as RNs. From them I learned that nurses are in the best positions to connect with, care for, and heal patients; few health care providers are closer to the barriers, trials, and tribulations that surround illness. However, as none are nurse practitioners, I did some research and received excellent advice from NP colleagues, eventually realizing that pursing an NP was ideal for me. I was further encouraged and empowered by receiving this amazing opportunity from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, also dedicated to addressing disparities.   

Ultimately, my hope is to take the experiences gained in global health research and merge it with clinical competencies. The clinical perspective that I lack as a researcher will inform and improve my research, and the training that I have received will deepen my understanding of the broader implications of patient challenges. In the end, I hope to effectively contribute to advocacy and academia to improve health inequalities, both domestically and abroad.   

Finally, in many resource-poor communities, there lies the opportunity to improve working conditions for nurses. If I manage to accomplish my goals, I would like to share whatever resources I can with those nurses. Again, I have found that they comprise the backbone to whatever health care infrastructure exists in these settings and their advancement will be key to addressing issues of social justice in healthcare.