Edilma L. Yearwood, PhD, PMHCNS-BC, FAAN is a tenured Associate Professor of Nursing at Georgetown University School of Nursing & Health Studies. She is Senior Advisor for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging, and Anti-Racism. She is the course coordinator and lecturer for undergraduate and graduate (MS-CNL) Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing. She will be a faculty member in the PhD Program in Nursing which launches in fall 2024. She will teach Health Equity and Qualitative Research Methods. Dr. Yearwood developed a graduate elective on Child & Adolescent Behavioral Health for family nurse practitioner and senior level undergraduate nursing students. She is an ANCC certified Clinical Nurse Specialist in Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing with over 30 years of experience. She is a member of the American Academy of Nursing (since 2007) and Past President of the International Society of Psychiatric Nurses (ISPN). She also holds membership in the American Nurses Association, the Eastern Nurses Research Society, and Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI). She is on the Board of the Global Alliance for Behavioral Health and Social Justice where she has served as Secretary for two consecutive terms. As Chair of the Diversity and Equity Committee of ISPN (2007-2012), she led national and international organizational initiatives to advance the mission of the organization. In addition, she served as the Director for the Child and Adolescent Division of the organization from 2013-2015. As an immigrant from Panama and a qualitative researcher, her research interests include the mental health of minority and immigrant youth, vulnerable families, cultural factors impacting mental health symptomatology and treatment, and youth empowerment strategies. In 2015 she became an Associate Editor of Archives of Psychiatric Nursing and in 2022 became Editor of the Journal. She served on the editorial board of the Journal of Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing from 1987-2012 and serves as a manuscript reviewer for 12 other national and international professional journals. She was selected as a Fulbright Senior Specialist and served from 2007-2012. Her first Fulbright assignment occurred at the University of the West Indies School of Nursing (UWISON), Mona campus in Kingston, Jamaica in 2008. As a content expert in mental health, Dr. Yearwood was invited to UWISON to teach mental health content to undergraduate and graduate students and faculty; tour psychiatric treatment programs; develop a policy statement on nursing students with disabilities, and to develop a graduate course in child and adolescent mental health. She served as chair and remains a member of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing committee on Diversity, Inclusion and Equity in Academic Nursing (AACN). She is currently also serving on the AACN task force to develop a toolkit for faculty and students on 'Conducting Difficult Conversations.' Dr. Yearwood is one of the editors and chapter contributors to the textbook titled 'Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health: A Resource for Advanced Practice Psychiatric and Primary Care Practitioners in Nursing' the second edition of which was published by Wiley-Blackwell in 2021. In 2017 she also co-edited and was a chapter author contributor to Routledge Handbook of Global Mental Health Nursing.
Dr. Yearwood is the Project Director of a 5 year HRSA grant titled, Nurturing Child Well-Being: Educating Communities on Social Determinants of Health (2020-2025).,