Precious Illonah is a Senior Health Services student in the College of Allied Health and Sciences at Augusta University. Precious hails from Lithonia, Georgia, and the youngest of four children of Guyanese-Nigerian parentage. She has been heavily involved in the Housing and Residence Life Department as a Lead Resident Assistant, Augusta University’s Campus Recreation as a Building Supervisor, and a founding member of the African Student Association. Upon obtaining her Bachelor’s degree, Precious plans to become a Master of Public Health candidate where she will gain the appropriate knowledge to better serve her community. Precious’ goal is to become an epidemiologist, focusing on Black women’s maternal health, healthcare inequality, and LGBTQ+ youth clinical development. Diversity, equity, and inclusivity have always been important topics to Precious and she is very excited to partner with Dr. Seretha Williams from Pamplin College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences as well as the Office of Diversity and Inclusion this Summer.
Shelby Victoria Cofer is a second-year student registered nurse anesthetist (SRNA) obtaining her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree. Prior to returning to school, she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of West Georgia and worked at Doctors Hospital as a Burn ICU nurse and as a travel nurse. Coming from a biracial, military, and multicultural background, Shelby recognized the value of diversity and strength of inclusivity at a young age. This cultural immersion taught her diversity makes society beautiful. During her undergraduate years, Shelby helped foster these values by serving as a mentor for the University of West Georgia’s Multicultural Achievement Program and Women of Diversity. This passion inspires her to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the Augusta University (AU) community and the nursing anesthesia profession. In doing so, Shelby aspires to integrate diversity and cultural sensitivity training into the AU Nursing Anesthesia Program.
Darsani Reddy is a second-year student at the Medical College of Georgia. She completed a BA in Sociology with a minor in Community Building & Social Change and an MPH in Behavioral Sciences and Health Education at Emory University. Currently, Darsani is following her passion to improve patient care by working towards a Lean Six Sigma yellow belt certification from the American Society for Quality, researching the role of love in medicine with Dr. Richard Sams, starting a chapter of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Open School, and serving as a Women’s Health Clinic coordinator. In the future, she hopes to pursue further training in internal medicine and has additional interests in cardiology, mitigating clinician burnout, and physician advocacy.
Amanda Huels is a nontraditional student in the accelerated nursing program graduating this summer 2020. As a previous educator, she recognizes the importance of creating a safe classroom culture that values and recognizes an individual's backgrounds. Amanda is excited to develop a discussion-based curriculum to be combined with the current pre-licensure nursing curriculum to address topics regarding race and nursing history, implicit biases, and the systemic racial and health disparities prevalent in healthcare. she hopes for this curriculum to be integrated into the program long term to provide students a space to discuss and deepen their understanding of these concepts.
