The Evelyn Lauder Community Care Nurse Practitioner Program at Hunter College is committed to building a Nurse Practitioner workforce with specialized training working with underserved communities in New York City. The Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing is pleased to announce the first cohort of Lauder Fellows who are receiving comprehensive training to prepare graduates with the skills and expertise to provide primary care to patients of all ages with complex health needs.
Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing
Request information about the next cohort of Lauder Fellows, ask questions about the program, or sign up to be notified about upcoming information sessions.
Evelyn Lauder Community Care Nurse Practitioner Program
Belly Braimah, RN, BS | Cohort 1
Program: Psychiatric Mental Health NP
Belly Braimah received the 2019 Maimonides Medical Staff Nursing Excellence Award and is a member of the planning committee of the Annual Brooklyn Stroke Symposium. Braimah received a BA in Biology from Hunter College before pursuing a Nursing degree from New Jersey City University. He has served as a Registered Nurse in the Emergency Department at Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn, where he was responsible for performing triage and monitoring critically ill patients. Braimah is now the Stroke Program Coordinator, ensuring compliance with Stroke Center regulations and optimizing inpatient care.
Cara Clark, RN, BS | Cohort 1
After receiving her BS in Nursing from Binghamton University, Cara Clark worked in a variety of roles, including Ambulatory Surgery and Maternal Child Health. Since 2009, she has been a School Nurse, first at Fox Meadow Elementary School in Scarsdale, and now at Rockland BOCES – the River View High School in Nyack. At Rockland BOCES, Clark provides nursing care in an alternative high school for special-needs students. She also works part-time at a Methadone maintenance treatment program in Valley Cottage. In recognition of her work, she received the 2011 JDRF School Nurse of the Year – Westchester Chapter Award. Clark believes that the Evelyn Lauder NP Program will give her “the opportunity to not only help the underserved receive needed care, but also the knowledge to build bridges so that we can address the health-equity crisis in our nation. This has always been a part of my dream.”
Brittany A. Jones, RN, BS | Cohort 1
Program: Adult Gerontology NP
Brittany Jones received a BS in Biological Sciences and an Associate degree in Applied Science in Physical Therapy before completing her BS in Nursing at the University of Rochester in 2018. She is a Registered Nurse in the Cardiac Thoracic Intensive Care Unit at New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital. Jones volunteered during the COVID pandemic as part of a partnership between New York-Presbyterian and Intermountain Healthcare to relieve staff shortages in Murray, UT. As part of her Adult Gerontology NP studies at Hunter, Jones attended the Healthcare Study Abroad Program in the Dominican Republic, learning about community needs in Santo Domingo and San Jose de Ocoa. She has also participated in medical missions in Nakuru and Nairobi, Kenya, with the Nurses with Purpose organization. Jones said that her international experiences “allow me to take on inequalities from a broad perspective” and that “an open mindset and preparedness will help lead the way to my success.”
Elke Kraus, NP, MS | Cohort 1
Program: Psychiatric Mental Health NP
Elke Kraus holds two Nursing degrees from Hunter College, a BS in Nursing and a MS as an Adult Gerontology Nurse Practitioner. During her AGNP graduate studies, she completed her clinical hours at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue Hospital, in its Urgent Care and Outpatient Clinics. She has worked at Bellevue as a staff nurse for 12 years in Medicine/Rehabilitation units. Since 2020, she has also worked as a contract Nurse Practitioner at Con Edison’s’ Employee Health and Wellness Center. Kraus is now a post-Master’s Advanced Certificate student in the Psychiatric Mental Health NP program. The Lauder Fellowship will enable her to leave Con Edison and devote herself to her education.
Susan Lee, RN, BS | Cohort 1
Program: Adult Gerontology NP
Susan Lee, a May 2019 magna cum laude BS Nursing graduate of Hunter College, received several prestigious undergraduate scholarships, including the Helen Witmer Roth Scholarship from the Chinese American Nurse Association, and New York State and New York City Council Merit Scholarships. She was also inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing and the Golden Key International Honor Society. Lee was a Nurse Extern at the Veterans Administration New York Harbor Health Care System’s Residency Program, and then worked as a Staff Nurse in the Medical ICU at The Mount Sinai Hospital. Since December 2019, she has been a critical-care RN in Medical ICU, Surgical ICU, Coronary Care, and Burn Care units at New York City Health + Hospitals/Harlem Hospital. Lee states that working for NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem “has been one of the greatest fulfillments of my life” and views the Evelyn Lauder NP Program as a way “to continue my passion for serving others.”
Samantha Mangels, RN, BS | Cohort 1
Program: Adult Gerontology NP
Samantha Mangels completed her BS in Biology-Psychology and worked as a Microbiology Researcher before receiving her BS in Nursing from Long Island University in Brooklyn. As an Operating Room Nurse Clinician at NYU Langone Medical Center, she is a member of the NYU Intra-Operative Quantitative Blood Loss Initiative, measuring intra-operative blood loss and presenting her findings at the Global Surgical Conference of the Association of PeriOperative Registered Nurses. She hopes to promote cultural sensitivity and equity in care and wants “to play an active role in working toward a future where every individual has equal access to healthcare, regardless of background.”
Yeshi Menrinetsang, RN, BS | Cohort 1
Program: Adult Gerontology NP
Yeshi Menrinetsang has both an Associate and Bachelor degree in Nursing and has been a practicing nurse since 2013. Working in the Emergency Department at Elmhurst Hospital during the height of the COVID pandemic, she saw that “communities of color, especially those of low-socioeconomic status, were affected by the virus at a greater magnitude, and it was clear that this health disparity was rooted in even larger systems of inequity.” Employed today as an Accountable Care Manager at Elmhurst, Menrinetsang also works at NYC Emergency Management screening migrants and providing patient care. A working mother of three daughters, she nonetheless has dedicated time to participate in cultural-competency and sensitivity training for healthcare providers because, as she put it, “people should be granted the utmost level of healthcare irrespective of their financial status.”
Kathlyen Mora, NP, MS | Cohort 1
Program: Psychiatric Mental Health NP
A lead author of an article published in the Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, a Rudin Scholarship recipient, and a nurse Preceptor, Kathlyen Mora holds a BSN degree and an MS degree in Adult Gerontology from New York University. She performs video-based physical assessments and manages complex and chronic illnesses of patients through a telemedicine app as a digital clinician. Mora, who speaks Spanish and French, has been working as a nurse for more than a decade and feels that “mental-health services remain inaccessible to people from low-income households, and they are underutilized in communities of color.” She sees her education and work as a nurse as a way to serve vulnerable populations:
Pamela Salud, RN, BS | Cohort 1
Program: Adult Gerontology NP
Pamela Salud completed an undergraduate degree in geography and urban studies at Temple University in 2011 before obtaining her Bachelor of Science in nursing at Johns Hopkins University in 2015. She has worked in intermediate and critical care units as a registered nurse and, more recently, at Cityblock Health in Brooklyn. Throughout her career, she has navigated the challenges of caring for patients who are medically complex and have high social and sometimes behavioral needs. It’s to help patients like these — those on the margins, who have fallen through the cracks of our medical system — that she decided to become a nurse practitioner.
Joshtin Sulse, RN, BS | Cohort 1
Program: Adult Gerontology NP
A 2019 graduate of the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing, Joshtin Sulse started his career as Clinical Nurse at Northwell Health Long Island Jewish Center and now works at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He is a member of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, as well as a member of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing’s Alpha Phi Chapter. His “journey as a nurse has illuminated the stark realities of healthcare disparities, and ignited my passion for helping transform healthcare.” At MSK, Sulse assesses and manages the care of oncology patients, coordinates care between the interdisciplinary teams, and advocates for patients and their needs to physicians and advanced-care providers. Dedicated to excellence and a strong advocate for his patients and individualized care, Sulse is “fueled by the belief that change is not only attainable but imperative.”
You Wu, RN, BS | Cohort 1
Program: Psychiatric Mental Health NP
After receiving her AAS degree in Nursing from Queensborough Community College, You Wu earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing. Now pursuing a Master’s in Psychiatric Mental Health, she works at Elmhurst Hospital as a Charge Nurse on a busy rehabilitation floor and as a Staff Nurse on an inpatient adult psychiatric unit. As an undergraduate at Queensborough, Wu was a Nursing peer leader and mentor, tutoring fellow students in Nursing, Anatomy and Physiology, and Chemistry. A nurse of six years, she recognizes that some patients wind up in the Emergency Room because of a lack of insurance and social support. Thus, she has decided to “do my share to improve the health of the most vulnerable populations.”
Evelyn Lauder Community Care Nurse Practitioner Fellows
Meet the Second Cohort of Lauder Fellows
Meet the second cohort of Evelyn Lauder Community Care Nurse Practitioner Fellows at Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing.