Spotlight

A New Hampshire native, Gina Apgar was raised in economically challenging circumstances but she has worked steadily to improve her destiny. Starting with her first babysitting class at age eleven, her education has culminated in a master’s degree in social work from UNH in 2021. “I’ve always…

Few people ever learn to juggle better than professional performers, but Bianca Pietro seems to manage it with ineffable ease. As a Special Educator, her days may be challenging, as a mother of two her arms are full, as a performer and Director of Youth Theatre Education she fields a thousand…

How do you seamlessly blend art with science? In the case of Eugenia Opuda, you become a health science librarian with an art history degree and a music background. The connecting thread is a love of research and teaching with the broad perspective gained by a cross-disciplinary study that forms a…

Earning a degree is a respected milestone but the educational value of life experience should never be understated. With a bachelor’s degree from Rivier College in 2000, Chloe Cataldo developed her skills during twenty years of employment before earning a Master’s in Educational Studies in 2020…

How would you explain your discipline and/or research to those unfamiliar with the subject? I would describe Health Data Science as the intersection of computer programming, statistics, and healthcare domain experience. Data-driven decision-making is a key component of healthcare delivery and…

Completing a BSN in Nursing from Husson College through Eastern Maine Medical Center, Cathleen Colleran also earned a master’s degree in Community Health Nursing from the University of Mass-Dartmouth in 2000, and a DNP from Regis College in 2010. She remembers with great affection her undergraduate…

“I could go to school forever, there are so many things I want to know,” declares Clarissa Michalak, Clinical Assistant Professor with the Nursing Department at UNH. Clarissa’s lifelong passion for learning is evidenced by an impressive list of academic accomplishments. In 2007, she earned a…

Michael Robustelli knows from experience that the path of discovery is not a straight line. During a lucrative career as a commodities trader in NYC, Michael felt something was missing. “My dad tells me that at age seven I wanted to become a doctor,” he remarks with a smile. “I needed to get back…

Openness is a way of life for Isaac Ndungu, 2020 graduate of the UNH Online post master’s Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program. Originally from Kenya, he emigrated to the United States in 1983 to study industrial engineering and later attended the University of Massachusetts for…

Sara Robinson is a Wildcat. She attended UNH as an undergraduate, worked with UNH Health Services and her grandmother served with the Nursing Department faculty.  In 2022, Robinson graduated from the online UNH DNP program while serving as Program Director of the Post-Master’s Psychiatric Mental…

Energy and excitement sparkle like gemstones when Sheila Evans talks about her work. Her career evolved from a front-line oncology nurse to a director role with several hospitals, including the Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Sibley, and the Royal…

A glimpse into Rhaea Photopoulos’ workday reveals a purposeful hum into the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center’s Gastrointestinal Oncology Clinic where she has worked as a Nurse Practitioner for the past twelve years. The fast pace is well matched by her long-standing commitment and she…