Student Spotlight

PhD Program

Meet Native American students Autaquay Peters-Mosquera & Chyla Bigham-Hendricks

Both were awarded a Tan Chingfen GSN Pre-Doctoral Minority Fellowship

Autaquay Peters-Mosquera

She earned a Bachelors of Science in Nursing and holds a Master's degree in Business Administration in Healthcare. She is an enrolled member of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe of Massachusetts and the daughter of the late Supreme Medicine Man of the Wampanoag Nation, John "Slow Turtle" Peters. Her culture and traditions are a large part of her life due to the closeness with her family and tribal community.

She was referred to the Tan Chingfen School of Nursing by a family friend and was introduced to Dr. Teri Aronowitz. I was thrilled to learn about what UMass had to offer and applied immediately.

She is looking forward to obtaining key research skills through her PhD training and using her nursing experience to help her tribal community and other tribes across the US. Her research focus is mssing and murdered Indigenous women and violence prevention.

Chyla Bigham-Hendricks

She is from Mashpee, a small town on Cape Cod. A Mashpee Wampanoag, “People of the First Light”, because living on the east coast, they are the first ones to see the sun rise. Native American women’s sole purpose in her hometown has become known to stay home and local to tend and care for their family. She refused to limit myself to this belief and instead took this as a challenge. She decided to work towards the most appropriate degree available and use that education, skills, and research to fulfill and meet the health needs of the Native population.

She received a BSN from UMass Boston where she was given on-site clinical opportunities of a lifetime, she knew if she were ever to pursue a post-baccalaureate program she would want to stay within the UMass system. The faculty and staff within UMass Chan Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing have offered strong support since day one. It was quickly clear that the academic, elective, and research opportunities the program offered would benefit her beyond fulfillment.

She is looking forward to becoming a PhD prepared Native American woman! Statistics continue to display the lack of education and awareness of substance misuse and treatment in the Native American population. She believes that reaching this level of continued nursing education at Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing and becoming a PhD prepared nurse scientist would supply her with the knowledge to access, develop, and provide evidence-based practices and care to the marginalized Native American community. Her research focus is substance misuse and corresponding policies related to treatment focusing on the Native American population.

DNP year 1 students Basirat Quadry, Anita Tran, Ama Agyei and Erika Marrero-Olmeda volunteered at the Heart Health Education Event thru the Office of Well-Being (OWB). People stopped by to get their blood pressure checked, participate in CPR training and learn more about how OWB is building a heart-healthy lifestyle.