"I was born and raised in Newark, New Jersey, where I attended school, furthered my education, and developed my career to become an accomplished licensed registered nurse and nurse practitioner. Over the last ten years, I have gained experience within the health field, working in different roles and healthcare settings with colleagues, to provide service to patients from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. For instance, I worked at Morristown Memorial Hospital as a care provider for patients with traumatic orthopedic injuries and debilitating diseases. I also served as the lead nurse practitioner for the Department of Health and Community Wellness at Mary Eliza Mahoney Health Center for the City of Newark.
While serving in various organizations, I have honed my collaboration, decision-making, interpersonal, and leadership skills. Notably, these skill sets have been fundamental additions to serving the diverse communities across the state of New Jersey in my current role as the clinical lead for the ScreenNJ Mobile Health Unit program.
My passion for improving the experiences of those around me reflects my contribution to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. Interactions with colleagues, patients, or their families are vital in informing the healthcare experience and improving patient outcomes. In this regard, I am dedicated to going beyond clinical obligations to develop an atmosphere of support and compassion. Notably, this includes active listening, effective communication, and addressing the unique needs of everyone under my care. Primarily, this ensures that every patient I attend to is equally cared for regardless of their racial or cultural background.
The recent facilitation of clinical rotations for the Rutgers nursing students by our ScreenNJ mobile health unit is one of the instances where I was involved in improving the experiences of those around me. I supervised the students in patient-provider encounters to support the development of their nursing careers by exposing them to patient-centered care. The students were involved in clinical work and gained exposure to serving populations from diverse communities.
Fundamentally, promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion has been vital for better engagement with the community I serve and better healthcare outcomes."
— Kenneth A. Gyan, MSN, APRN, FNP-C (he/him/his)
- Clinical Lead Provider, ScreenNJ, Cancer Health Equity and Engagement, Rutgers Cancer Institute