Two Columbia Students Awarded Nurses Educational Funds Scholarships

Doctor of nursing practice (DNP) students Nadège Dorcelly and Mobolaji Odewole, MS ’21, have received scholarships from Nurses Educational Funds, Inc. (NEF) for 2023. 

Founded in 1912, NEF promotes leadership and health equality through annual scholarships to nurses seeking master’s and doctoral degrees in nursing education, advanced clinical practice, research, health policy, and administration. Dorcelly received a memorial scholarship honoring public health nurse Liesel M. Hiementz, and Odewole received the NEF/Columbia University – Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing Alumni Association Inc./J. Margaret Ada Mutch Scholarship. 

Dorcelly is in the Psychiatric and Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program at Columbia Nursing. She is passionate about increasing access to quality care for marginalized communities, especially Black and Indigenous people of color living with post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction. As a research assistant with the CHOSEN Bronx Opioid Collective Outreach Program, she worked with people who use drugs to implement risk reduction strategies and encourage them to seek medical attention for substance-use-related wounds. Obtaining her DNP will allow Dorcelly to innovatively address the mental health needs of underserved communities. 

Odewole is in the Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program and is planning a career in evidence-based research, advanced clinical practice, and nurse education. He serves in several student leadership positions, and also works as a teaching assistant and clinical nurse. During the pandemic, Odewole helped care for hospitalized patients and volunteered to administer COVID vaccines and boosters to the community. His research interests include preventing racial and socioeconomic disparities in care delivery and outcomes in patients with cancer. He plans to leverage his doctorate degree to help manage the health and illness of adult patients over their lifespan.