Welcome to Journal of Addictions Nursing 33(3). I'd like to introduce our two guest editors for the Special Issue on Social Determinants of Health and Addictions Nursing.
Dr. Katherine Fornili is retiring from the University of Maryland School of Nursing as an assistant professor in July 2022, where she has taught for the past 17 years. She was the co-developer of an undergraduate addictions nursing elective, a 12-credit graduate addictions nursing certificate program, and a public health violence prevention course. She has most recently taught addictions nursing at both levels, the violence prevention course, and core courses in the Doctor of Nursing Practice program. She developed a community/public health nursing clinical site at a program for formerly homeless men in downtown Baltimore, where, for over 30 semesters, she and her students have focused their work on addiction recovery and health promotion. She also developed and provided seminars for interprofessional education in addictions for nurses, physicians, social workers, dentists, and other health professionals.
Dr. Fornili was coauthor of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Technical Assistance Protocol #30, "Buprenorphine, A Guide for Nurses," and a field reviewer for Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Treatment Improvement Protocol #63, "Medications for Opioid Use Disorder." She also served as a doctoral student intern at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Dr. Fornili has served on the International Nursing Society on Addictions (IntNSA's) Board of Directors for many years and was President of IntNSA from 2018 to 2022. She continues to serve on the Interim Board of IntNSA USA and on the global IntNSA Board as Past President. She has served on IntNSA's Policy Committee since 2004 and is the associate editor of the JAN Policy Watch column. She is also a Fellow of the International Academy of Addictions Nursing.
Dr. Fornili was the coeditor of Addictions Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice, 3rd Edition (American Nurses Association and International Nurses Society on Addictions, 2022). She has recently been appointed as a visiting scholar at Middlesex University in London and will be working with the Drug and Alcohol Research Center.
Yolanda Ogbolu, PhD, CRNP-Neonatal, FNAP, FAAN, is an associate professor; Chair of Partnerships, Professional Education and Practice; past director of Global Health; and co-director for the Center for Health Equity and Outcomes Research at the University of Maryland Baltimore School of Nursing and School of Medicine. A native of Baltimore city, her research seeks global and local community-engaged solutions for advancing health equity in marginalized communities.
Dr. Ogbolu has implemented multiple health equity research studies focusing on improving health equity by examining the adoption of cultural competency standards and policies in local hospitals, community-based approaches to addressing social determinants of health across multisectoral organizations, and community social isolation in West Baltimore using global learning to advance a health equity model. Dr. Ogbolu brings to academia 25 years of clinical practice experience in maternal-child health.
She is well known for her collaborative leadership style that she applies for multisectoral teamwork locally and globally in reaching and engaging local and global stakeholders to support translation of research into public health policy and practice. In 2009, she served as a legislative intern in the Maryland General Assembly with Maryland Senator Shirley Nathan Pulliam, Chair of the Subcommittee on Minority Health Disparities. Dr. Ogbolu has since served on two Governor's task forces: the Maryland Infant Mortality Task Force Epidemiology Group (2011) and as co-lead on Maryland's Task Force on Cultural Competency (2012-2013) under the direction of the Maryland Office of Minority Health. Currently, she leads the Social Determinants of Health Taskforce for Baltimore, a first of its kind in the nation.