The Team

The team has extensive leadership experience, research training, nurse educator expertise, clinical experience, and simulation training. Each of the PIs have successfully administered numerous projects (e.g. team building, mentoring, IRB, budget), collaborated with researchers from other disciplines, and produced several peer-reviewed publications and presentations from each project. As a result of these previous experiences, they value the importance of honest communication, realistic deadlines and an adequate budget. The proposed project builds logically on their strengths as expert nurse educators, skilled researchers, effective leaders and productive team members.

UMass Dartmouth Team

Jennifer Viveiros

Associate Professor

College of Nursing & Health Sciences / Adult
Modular Unit #5 005

508-910-6445
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Dr. Viveiros has extensive experience teaching with high fidelity simulations. She has expertise in simulation design, the capabilities of our simulation center, and experience with simulation measurement tools/resources. She has worked with multi-disciplinary simulation research teams to promote safety in the healthcare setting.

Mary Mccurry

Professor

College of Nursing & Health Sciences / Adult
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508-910-6092
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Professor McCurry is a board-certified adult and acute care nurse practitioner. She has held numerous leadership positions in the college and has training and expertise in nursing education, multivariate statistics, advanced practice nursing and OUD.

Monika Schuler

Associate Professor

College of Nursing & Health Sciences / Community
Dion 202A

508-999-8578
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Dr. Schuler is a board-certified family nurse practitioner and nurse educator. She has experience teaching with simulation and research with undergraduate and graduate education. She has a program of research that focuses on understanding stigma and nursing in patients with OUD. She is actively practicing as a nurse practitioner working with patients with OUD.

Mirinda Tyo

Assistant Professor

College of Nursing & Health Sciences / Adult
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508-999-8580
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Mirinda Tyo, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and a board-certified trauma nurse, clinical educator, and nurse leader. She has over 20 years of clinical expertise caring for patients with chronic illness. Her program of research focuses on understanding the experiences of family members impacted by chronic illnesses and the factors that influence their health and wellbeing, such as caregiver burden, caregiver resilience, stress, and stigma. Family caregivers represent a large underserved population and her research goal is for healthcare providers and policy makers to better understand how to help family caregivers improve their resilience and quality of life, so they can continue with essential caregiving duties.

Shannon Avery-Desmarais

Assistant Professor / Doctor of Nursing Practice Program Director

College of Nursing & Health Sciences / Adult
Dion 318B

508-910-6598
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Dr. Avery-Desmarais is a board-certified adult-gerontology nurse practitioner who is an Assistant Professor and Program Director of the Doctor of Nursing Practice Program at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Her research focuses on the impact of minority stress on the well-being of nurses and she has published multiple articles on substance use. She is actively practicing in primary care where she frequently cares for patients with substance use disorder.

Graduate Students

Danielle DeGonge

Research Assistant

Danielle DeGonge is a graduate research assistant at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and a student in the Nursing PhD program. She previously received her MSN in Nursing Informatics. Danielle has prior research experience as an undergraduate research assistant and as a registered nurse working on early-phase oncology clinical trials.

Undergraduate Students

Sam D’Atri

My name is Samuel D’Atri, and I am a senior in the College of Nursing & Health Sciences at UMass Dartmouth. My interests are nursing and healthcare informatics. I am a member of the Chinese Student & Scholars Association, which is on campus. In my free time, I enjoy listening to music and traveling.

Chloe Naff

My name is Chloe Naff, I am a senior in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program with a minor in Aging and Health and a Massachusetts Commonwealth Honors Scholar. My research interests include helping those with substance use disorders in a variety of different ways. I am the secretary of the Student Nurses Association on campus as well as a member of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing and an Emergency Room Tech at a community hospital.

Queyka SaintLouis

My name is Queyka (Kayeekuh) SaintLouis and I am an undergraduate student-nurse at UMass Dartmouth. I am an honors student and a student leader with my university’s chapter of New England Regional Black Nurses Association. After graduation in May 2024, I hope to practice in the adolescent population across various settings. Nursing research is also part of my plans after graduation.

Jack Viveiros

My name is Jack Viveiros, I am a senior in the Mechanical Engineering undergraduate program. My research interests are energy development and system design. I’m a part of the SOLIDWORKS club, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and Society of Machining Engineers (SME) which are on campus, and I enjoy playing video games in my free time.

Alumni

Brianna Kauranen MA '23