USJ Students Receive CVS Health Foundation Scholarship

(January 28, 2021 – West Hartford) - The CVS Health Foundation has awarded $3,000 in Family Nurse Practitioner & Physician Assistant (FNP/PA) Scholarships to three University of Saint Joseph students in the University’s Family Nurse Practitioner Program.

The CVS Health Foundation Scholarships support the most promising family nurse practitioners and physician assistants of tomorrow from accredited Colleges of Nursing and Physician Assistants schools across the country.

The scholarships seek to help mitigate the impact of the ongoing primary care physician shortage in the United States. With more Americans living longer and fewer primary care physicians, the demand for highly skilled nurse practitioners and physician assistants is only expected to increase.

University of Saint Joseph recipients of the scholarship are Soralid Heredia, Ellen Maurus and Christopher Lee.

Soralid Heredia, RN, BSN of Hartford is enrolled full-time in University of Saint Joseph’s Family Nurse Practitioner Program She is fluent in both English and Spanish. In 2018 she was a part of Medical Aid to Haiti (MATH), a GYN/surgery mission trip, where she traveled to the underserved area of Dame Marie and organized free surgeries. She scrubbed in the Operating Rooms and worked with surgeons as a labor and delivery nurse.

Ellen Maurus of Enfield is currently enrolled in her fourth semester in the Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) program at University of Saint Joseph. She is an honorably discharged veteran of the U.S. Air Force, having served five years active duty from 2001-2006 as a medic. Ellen also worked as nursing consultant at DDN Consulting Services of Hamden, CT from 2011-2020 where she provided nursing services to adults with developmental disabilities.

Christopher Lee of Manchester is the first in his family to graduate college and enrolled in University of Saint Joseph’s Family Nurse Practitioner Program in the Spring of 2020. He is a foreign-born Chinese citizen from South Vietnam, came to the United States at the age of 13 and speaks five languages fluently. Christopher established a soup kitchen at a Vietnamese temple in Vernon in 2011 to help underserved residents by reaching out to local restaurants and bakeries for food donations.

With the continued assistance of faculty member Heidi Smolka, DNP, FNP-BC, Graduate FNP Director, and Assistant Professor of Nursing, University of Saint Joseph students have been selected based on their good standing at the University along with other conditions promoted by CVS Health.

“We are very fortunate at USJ to have a diverse and clinically talented cohort of graduate FNP nursing students who have already made significant contributions to the nursing profession with their work as registered nurses,” stated Smolka. “These students have demonstrated a commitment to aiding medically underserved populations and I am very proud to know and work with them as they advance their career to serving as a Family Nurse Practitioner.”

# # #

The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) offers a wide range of coeducational undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs that combine a professional and liberal arts education with opportunities for mentored research, community service, clinical field work, and internships. Programs are taught on the University’s two campuses in West Hartford and Hartford, Connecticut; at off-campus locations throughout the state; and online. Founded in 1932 by the Sisters of Mercy, the University of Saint Joseph offers degrees with value and values. To learn more, view our website at www.usj.edu.