Meet the First Cohort of the DNP Advanced Practice Nurse Anesthesia Track

Happy CRNA week from the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing!

“We were excited to launch our DNP Advanced Practice Track Nurse Anesthesia program this year! It was a bright spot in a rather challenging year,” says Dr. Andrew Benson, Assistant Program Director. Dr. Catherine Horvath is the Track Coordinator. Now you can meet some of the students of the first cohort.

Students of the First Cohort of the DNP Advanced Practice Nurse Anesthesia Track

Sherry Dong

Vi Ly

My name is Vi Ly. I currently reside in California and work at a local hospital in the Medical and Neuro Intensive Care Unit. I earned my bachelor’s from the University of California, Irvine and my master’s degree in nursing from Western University of Health Sciences. My two years of community services with AmeriCorps, serving at-risk populations within the education and community health sectors, had a great impact on my decision to pursue nursing. I decided to study nurse anesthesia because of my desire to pursue an advanced practice role that emphasizes critical thinking, clinical skills, compassion, and lifelong learning. I look forward to relocating to Maryland with my family as we begin our clinicals this year.

Nathalie Yotat

Kate Hopson

I am Kate Hopson and I currently live in Portland, Oregon. Before becoming a SRNA I worked in a cardiovascular intensive care unit for nine years. The biggest challenge of the program so far has been online classes due to the pandemic. The success is that our cohort and professors are amazing and so supportive, even though we are so far apart. I look forward to clinicals this summer!

Chintan Patel

Brooke Lester

I am Brooke Lester. I graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 2011 with a bachelor’s in neuroscience psychology and then received my BSN from Drexel University in 2014. I have five years of experience in the cardiovascular intensive care unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital and a year and a half worth of experience on Nelson 8 at Johns Hopkins Hospital, that is a medical/surgical unit.

I am really enjoying the program so far and the challenges that accompany the academic content. My professors have been so supportive throughout the process of entering back into “school mode” as well!

I look forward to putting my skills to the test in the operating room when I start clinical as well as becoming an advocate for nurse anesthetists across the country.

Jessica Milin

My name is Jessica Milin, I’m 28 years old, and I currently reside in Los Angeles, CA with my husband and our dog, Rowan! I worked for six years in the cardiovascular intensive care unit, where I also precepted to nursing students, new hires, and open heart nurses; and acted as a code/rapid response nurse and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) specialist.

I knew I wanted to become an advanced practice nurse, but was uncertain of the path I wanted to take. I decided to pursue the nurse anesthesia because of my keen interest critical care as well as my love for hemodynamic monitoring and physiology. As a student in the inaugural DNP Nurse Anesthesia cohort at Johns Hopkins, I feel extremely supported by our faculty and my fellow classmates, which was a fundamental quality I sought out when applying to programs. My most recent success since starting school was placing in the 2020 BagMask Infographic Scholarship, where applicants created a one page visual depiction of an anesthesia-related topic. In the coming year, I look forward to returning to Baltimore and starting in-person classes, as well as getting into the operating room under my new role as a SRNA!

Minu Chhantyal

Read More:

• CRNA: Living the Dream
• Nurse anesthetists: Leading the way in DNP education
• How to become a nurse anesthetist
• Nurse Anesthetist Overview, U.S. News & World Report