By Catherine Duncan
\nBorn and raised in San Antonio, Aisha \u201cEesh\u201d Silva wants to assist the underserved in her hometown. After earning her associate\u2019s degree from St. Philip\u2019s College, she decided to pursue her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the School of Nursing.<\/p>\n
Acceptance into the nursing school\u2019s SUNRISE program is confirming Silva\u2019s decision to go on to earn a graduate degree so she can be a pediatric nurse and a nurse researcher in the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe SUNRISE program is a chance to expand my education beyond what is normally offered at an undergraduate level in the area of research. This is my best opportunity to get an inside look at how research that shapes our clinical practice is done and an intimate look into a researcher\u2019s thought process,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Lisa Cleveland, Ph.D., RN, CPNP, and Frank Puga, Ph.D., serve as Silva\u2019s faculty mentors for her SUNRISE research project, \u201cThe Relationship between Early Childhood Trauma, Depressive Symptoms and Opioid Use in Latina Women.\u201d<\/p>\n
This research project is part of a larger study Drs. Cleveland and Puga are conducting entitled the Maternal Opioid Morbidity Study (MOMS), which is being funded by the Texas Health & Human Services Commission.<\/p>\n
Texas has the highest maternal mortality rate in the country which means these women die during pregnancy or within a year of giving birth, Silva said.
\nMaternal opioid overdose death is the second leading cause of death in Texas\u2014second only to maternal deaths caused by a cardiac event. Upon discovering this, Silva said she decided to focus her research on learning more about this population so targeted interventions could be developed to reduce mortality rates for this population.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy interviewing and surveying these women, we can learn how to help future mothers and their babies. Research can help us make a difference,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Acceptance into the nursing school’s SUNRISE program is confirming Aisha “Eesh” Silva’s decision to further her education by earning a graduate degree after she completes her Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She wants to be a pediatric nurse and a nurse researcher in the community. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"magazine":[24],"issue-year":[20],"featured-story":[],"class_list":["post-485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","magazine-tribute","issue-year-20"],"yoast_head":"\n