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Op-ed Articles by RUSH Public Voices Fellows

RUSH University’s College of Nursing “Public Voices Fellowship,” now in its second year, is a prestigious program offered in partnership with The OpEd Project - an organization working to dramatically increase the public impact of our nation’s top underrepresented thought leaders. The fellowship provides a select and diverse cohort of approximately 20 participants with extraordinary resources, skills and support over the course of nine months to ensure their ideas shape not only the work in their field, but also the greater public conversations of our age.

In 2017, our first cohort of RUSH Nursing fellows published 53 articles in just five months. All 22 participants reported that the experience was transformational both professionally and personally. Now in our second year, RUSH Nursing fellows continue to display their expertise and passion nationally on current societal, cultural, and health issues.

Browse the original op-ed pieces from RUSH University College of Nursing cohorts:

Author Publication Title
Angela Moss Garnet We Need To Talk about Suicide: Please have a Conversation
Mellisa Kalensky The Hill Death vs. Debt: This is Why we Need Health Insurance Guarantees
Michelle Heyland Garnet Hotlines and Deadends: Community-Based Programs Work to Prevent Suicide
Michelle Heyland The Hill After Mass Shootings, Mental Illness is Always the Scapegoat
Rebecca Darmoc Inside Higher Ed We Still Don’t Get It: Diversity Marketing Must Be More than Skin Deep
Amber Kujath Medium Beyond Scary: A Need All Year for Nurses Specializing in Bones
Melissa Kalensky HuffPo Don’t Be Scared: 4 Keys for Breast Cancer Screening, Treatment Access
Monique Reed Pacific Standard No Sweet Deal: Why Taxing Sugary Beverages is a Must
Rhonda Owens MS. Power (and Mentorship) For Girls!
Shannon Halloway Medium Demential Awareness and Prevention Should Start Earlier
Wrenetha Julion Scientific American Bias Begins Much Too Early: We Need to Start Eliminating Disparities in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
Barbara Shaw Truthout Ripple Effects: DACA’s Future Affects the Healthcare of All Americans
Angela Johnson Garnet Integrative Medicine as a Part of Cancer Treatment: The Efficacy of a West Meets East Approach
Dawn Bounds Chicago Reporter Taking MeToo Conversation Beyond Sexual harassment
Dawn Bounds Medium Parents Beware: The Stranger Danger is in Your Home
Erik McIntosh Role Reboot #Bullied: Stop The Harassment of Our LGBTQ Youth
Erik McIntosh Morning Consult Safe Spaces: Train more To Better Serve LGBTQ
Heide Cygan Motto Why we shouldn’t be afraid to talk about our miscarriages
Rachel Start World Congress Interview on ambulatory nurses
Melissa Kalensky Stat News More Than Minions
Angela Moss Medium Access To health Care: America’s Real Health Crisis for Insured
Susan Swider LARB Healths Social Determinants: Nurses Are Key to Addressing Better Outcomes
Susan Buchholz Next Avenue Walking to avoid winter weight gain
Barbara Shaw Washington Post The Lily #MyMotherToo: It’s time to pay attention to elder sexual abuse
Alice Geis Medium Let Healers Heal with Medicare for All
Rachel Start The Hill Use nurses as keys to connect the dots in better healthcare
Rhonda Owens Chicago Reporter Focusing on violence misses the bigger story about Chicago
Monique Reed The Grio To all Black families: Remember to speak up about health concerns today
Dawn Bounds Garnet News Time to expose those who fuel sex trafficking demand
Michelle Heyland Morning Consult Violence at inpatient psychiatric facilities
Alice Geis The Hill Workplace wellness programs
Erik McIntosh LARB Viewer Beware: We Need More LGBTQ TV role models for kids
Rachel Start Garnet News The Bullying Stops Here
Raechel Ferry-Rooney HuffPo Compromise is possible in the gun control debate
Angela Johnson Medium Co-authored with Mona Shatell on digital detox
Shannon Halloway and Melissa Kalensky The Healthcare blog Co-authored on need to address Alzheimer’s prevention earlier
Monique Reed Garnet news Black Girls Move
Shannon Halloway Next Avenue Should loneliness be the next vital sign?
Wrenetha Julion Stat News Black mothers are dying: the toll of racism on maternal health
Lynn Mohr Washington Post The conversation to have with teens who want tattoos
Melissa Kalensky The Hill Fix what we’ve got and make Medicare right this year
Sally Lemke The Hechinger Report We can’t afford not to supply school-based healthcare
Michelle Heyland The Hill The danger of diagnosing mental illness through the media
Michelle Heyland Morning Consult The issue of managing mental health crisis in emergency departments
Susan Buchholz and Shannon Halloway Garnet News It’s time to learn a new language: Being nilingual benefits your brain
Rhonda Owens Garnet News A Black Woman’s Ballot Box
Shannon Halloway and Diana Taylor The Hill We all need to be concerned about national health policies
Susan Buchholz and Sarah Ailey The Hill Amended disability act
Lynn Mohr Morning Consult Screen Time and Family Time: Healthy Ways to Make It All Work
Lynn Mohr Garnet News What do you tell your kids about social media? 
Barbara Shaw Chicago Tribune Fear, anxiety, apprehension
Wrenetha Julion Truthout Is The American Dream Over For Black Boys?
Angela Moss Morning Consult Credibility Gap: Better Health Care Means Inviting Nurses Into Decision-Making
Dawn Bounds Garnet News Bullycide
Lois Platt The Hill There’s A New Drug Crisis Harming Americans
Todd Ruppar Scientific American Has Your Health Insurance Really Got You Covered?
Janice Phillips Garnet News Aging Out: An Honest Look at What Happens to Foster Children
Karen DeCocker Garnet News The Credible Victim
Josie Howard-Ruben The Hill Sesame - A Hidden Danger Prompts Urgent Need for US Labeling
Colleen Chierici The Hill The Cost of Not Talking About Death to Dying Patients
Kate Webster Garnet News Women Follow Dr. Ford’s Lead
Stephanie Garcia Garnet News Why Girls Should Stay Off Social Media Until Age 16
Jan Odiaga The Hill Healthcare Shortage Can Be Solved by Increased Funding for Education and Training
Elizabeth Stewart Chicago Tribune Faith or Fallacy? Alternative Treatments Failed My Mother
Todd Ruppar The Hill Publicized Drug Prices will be Meaningless to the Consumer
Margaret Bavis BuzzFlash This November, I’m Voting for my Patients
Janice Phillips Morning Consult Health Care Meets the Voting Booth: Why Housing Policies Determine Wellness
Mallory Bejster AJN Blog What can nurses do to influence health in their communities?
Terry Gallagher USA Today Australia is about to eradicate cervical cancer, US is nowhere close
Olimpia Paun NBC Think Loneliness is an epidemic with real public health consequences. Friends alone can’t solve it.
Lois Platt The Hill No longer banned: Thanksgiving welcome for new Americans
Josie Howard-Ruben The Hill Happy Thanksgiving: Make sure everyone’s food is allergen-free
Janice Phillips, Mallory Bejster The Hill Let’s give thanks to nurses
Kate Webster Hechinger Report 3 ways that colleges can support underrepresented students after the Harvard case
Janice Phillips, Maria Alonso The Hill Health Care Access and Delays: A True Crisis in America
Colleen Chierici The Hill Health Care Gap: Miners Shine Light on National Access Problem
Colleen Chierici Pacific Standard The Much-Ignored Emissions Costs of Health Care
Tricia Kierny The Hill Is homelessness hopeless? Ending the crisis is urgent
Janice Phillips Scientific American Unfair Diagnosis: Socioeconomic Gap Drives Cancer Outcomes
Mary Heitschmidt Ms. Magazine Blog Helping Girls and Women Win
Terry Gallagher The Hill Anti-vax and anti-abortion movements are filled with misinformation
Josie Howard-Ruben Scientific American The Dangers of Flying While Allergic
Lois Platt Garnet News Get your kid vaccinated 
Terry Gallagher US News & World Report Homelessness Is a National Crisis
Margaret Bavis Ms. Magazine Blog Press Refresh: It’s Time to Change the Narrative Around Nursing
Maria Alonso-Garcia Latino USA The Wall Is Here: Fighting Everyday Racism, Hate at Work
Janice Phillips The Hill We must develop social policies that will address the needs of the ‘hidden faces’
Aney Abraham Morning Consult Social media: How and why nurses need it
Lois Platt Garnet News Alcohol and Sexual Assault 
Josie Howard-Ruben The Hill Did kale lose its superstar status?
Terry Gallagher USA Today Drug overdoses go viral: Social media videos exploit personal tragedy, ‘trauma’ for likes
Colleen Chierici The Hill Air pollution discriminates
Janice Phillips The Hill The time to solve America’s health care crisis is way overdue
Ingrid Forsberg Thrive Global Keep quiet: Stay calm, focused, silent and reduce stress
Aney Abraham, Janice Phillips The Hill Notre Dame can’t be more urgent than people without food and shelter
Janice Phillips, Colleen Chierici The Hill Nurses aren’t sitting around playing cards, they’re solving global health
Terry Gallagher Garnet News Blood Work: Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos & the Abilene Paradox
Aney Abraham Reflections on Nursing Leadership I’m proud to be a nurse!
Olimpia Paun The Hill It’s time to support family caregivers
Elizabeth Stewart Garnet News Nurses show Trump the way
Josie Howard-Ruben Morning Consult Key ACA provisions help keep 32 million Americans with food allergies safer
Colleen Chierici The Hill There’s a War on Clean Air and Our Children Will Suffer
Terry Gallagher Chicago Tribune Fake Nancy Pelosi video is a reminder that mockery of stuttering needs to stop
Mary Heitschmidt US News & World Report Focus on People, Not Pre-Existing Conditions
Janice Phillips Scientific American Race Matters to the Health of African-American Men
Olimpia Paun and Mallory Bejster AJN Blog In Nursing, Empathy is a Practice to Cultivate
Terry Gallagher and Angela Moss The Hill Connecting the dots on social determinants of health
Janice Phillips and Aney Abraham The Hill Lack of personal hygience products: Violation of human rights for incarcerated women
Mary Heitschmidt The Hill Vaping is a public health crisis for US children
Janice Phillips The Hill Education is the key to escaping a life of poverty and poor health