About the Program
Georgetown’s PhD in Nursing program, based at our Capitol campus in the heart of Washington, D.C., is designed to be a premier full-time doctoral program for individuals who want to be leaders for change by advancing the discipline and serving in academic, community health, health care, policy, global, and research settings.
Georgetown’s PhD in Nursing program will lead in creating nurse scientists who generate knowledge with ethics and health equity as its core compass, to advance health, appreciating our shared humanity.
Roberta Waite, Dean of Georgetown University School of Nursing
Program Features
- Draws upon the interdisciplinary and intellectual richness of a campus community
- Develops leaders for change in nursing
- Focus in ethics and health equity
- Intellectual vibrancy with renowned faculty across multiple disciplines
- Globally known, values-based academic community
- Intellectual vibrancy across complimentary academic disciplines such as ethics, law, philosophy, medicine, and policy.
- Full-time, Capitol campus-based program with integrated experiences and classes at the Hilltop campus
Program Virtual Information Sessions
We periodically offer virtual information sessions about the Ph.D. in Nursing program features, curriculum and application procedure.
- Please check back for future session dates
Program Admissions
The application cycle for Fall 2025 entry is now closed.
Program Questions
Please direct questions about the PhD in Nursing program to PhDinNursing@georgetown.edu.
Program Leadership
Edilma L. Yearwood, PhD, PMHCNS-BC, FAAN
Program Director, PhD in Nursing Program
Mabintou Ouattara
Senior Program Coordinator, PhD in Nursing Program
mo887@georgtown.edu / 202-687-2482
Program Faculty
Nursing PhD students work with faculty who have expertise in multidimensional and complementary areas, including ethics, health equity, health disparities, mental health, women’s health, cardiovascular science and physiology.
Intima Alrimawi, PhD, MSN, MPH, BSN
Dr. Alrimawi’s research focuses on improving the quality of care for vulnerable families and children with complex health concerns or chronic diseases. Her secondary research interest is the development of nursing education to promote optimal outcomes in nursing education.
Ella Heitzler, PhD, WHNP, FNP, RNC-OB
Dr. Heitzler’s research seeks to support healing and increase the health equity of cisgender women and transgender persons who have experienced gender-based violence. Her current work explores the sexual violence screening practices (screening rates, questions utilized to screen, barriers to screening, and facilitators of screening) of nurse practitioners, midwives, and physicians who specialize in reproductive health care.
Roxanne Mirabal-Beltran, PhD
Dr. Mirabal-Beltran studies women’s health inequities and patient-provider communication. She is particularly interested in the use of Community-Based Participatory Research to facilitate access to health and health education. Her current work partners with the Wash and Spin to Health / Washington Avanzando la Salud Hispana (W.A.S.H.) Community Advisory Board to develop a reproductive health educational intervention to roll out in DC laundromats.
Carol Taylor, PhD, RN
Dr. Taylor’s passion is making health care “work” for everyone — equity. She studies pedagogical strategies to prepare the next generation of frontline caregivers to address ethical challenges. Her research interests include clinical and organizational ethics and spiritual care. She is the primary author of all 10 editions of WolterKluwer’s “Fundamentals of Nursing: The Art and Science of Person-Centered Care.”
Sarah Vittone, DBe, MSN, MA, RN
Dr. Vittone has more than 25 years of experience in clinical ethics consultation and is a primary consultant with the ethics consultation service of the Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics. Her clinical ethics interests are in complex decision-making, surrogate decision-makers, and issues at the interface of vulnerable populations and health systems.
Krista White, PhD, RN, CCRN-K, CNE
Dr. White’s research focuses on nursing education science, mentorship, compassionate teaching, equity within education, and an inclusive learning environment that fosters student outcomes. Dr. White is an instrument developer. The “Nursing Anxiety and Self-Confidence with Clinical Decision Making” scale and has been used in approximately 250 empirical studies worldwide, and has been translated and validated in Korean and Turkish.
Edilma Yearwood, PhD, PMHCNS-BC, FAAN
Dr. Yearwood, a qualitative researcher, uses community-based participatory action, ethnography and grounded theory methodologies in her research grounded in promoting and advocating for health equity. Her current grant is titled “Nurturing Child Well-Being: Educating Communities on Social Determinants of Health.” The project examines family and community dynamics and social determinants (FCDSD) — all of which impact the health and well-being of children and may result in poor health outcomes.