Alumna first from UTA accepted to Harvard palliative care fellowship
A University of Texas at Arlington Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) graduate is preparing to build on her degree through a year-long fellowship with Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital.
Jamyl Walker is the first UTA student to be accepted into the Harvard Interprofessional Palliative Care Fellowship Program. With a group of about 10 other fellows, she will go through training focused on palliative and hospice care in inpatient and outpatient settings.
Walker began as a registered nurse in the surgical/trauma intensive care unit in her home state of Minnesota. She transitioned into geriatrics and long-term care as a nurse practitioner, inspired by her grandmother Ruby Clark, who passed away at the age of 99, and her mother, a pancreatic cancer survivor.
“I knew I wanted to provide more supportive care for older adults and those with serious illnesses after my own family experiences,” Walker said. “There’s a shortage of providers in palliative and hospice medicine, and I want to increase education and application of this specialized care among our most vulnerable communities.”
Currently a geriatric nurse practitioner at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in College Station, Texas, Walker said she would like to see better access to palliative and hospice specialists and care options, especially in long-term care settings.
“If curative treatment is not an option, what do we do for supportive care?” Walker said. “This additional training will provide evidence-based guidance regarding how to answer that question and put it into action for patients and families.”
Attending UTA was fate, Walker said. She came across a flyer for a gerontology scholarship to UTA’s DNP program just a week before the application deadline. The program and her professors helped her find her voice as a person and a nursing professional, she said.
“Through the writing, feedback from professors and insight from writing coaches, you really learn how to get your point across without being excessively wordy,” she said. “I really appreciate that.”
Donna Hamby, clinical associate professor, was the faculty member who nominated Walker for the fellowship.
“Jamyl's responses in class and in conversation reveal her caring nature for her patients,” Hamby said. “The postdoctoral fellowship is an intensive program that will give her additional knowledge and expertise.”