Ellen ChristiansenEllen Christiansen, DNP, FNP-BC, PHNA-BC, RN, is an Associate Professor of Nursing at Dominican University of California, where she teaches Community and Public Health Nursing to first-semester senior nursing students. She is also responsible for secring interesting educational community-based placements where her students can learn about population health and make a real contribution to the health of the community. Christiansen received her baccalaureate degree in nursing from Dominican University of California. During undergraduate nursing school, she began to understand the importance of the social determinants of health, and she became passionate about social justice. She also realized that she loved working with a multicultural, underserved patient population, and she preferred doing it in a community-based setting. Accordingly, she enrolled in Samuel Merritt University and obtained her master's in nursing as a family nurse practitioner. She spent the next several years working in three rural, federally qualified community health centers on the coast of Northern California. Eventually, she attended Sonoma State University for a certification in Rural Community Clinic Management, and she became the Director of Operations for the three community clinics. Finally, having worked a total of 17 years for the community health centers, Christiansen's interest turned to nursing education, and she returned to Samuel Merritt University, where she obtained a DNP degree. Afterward, she taught part time for Samuel Merritt University but was soon hired for a full-time tenure track position at Dominican University of California, where she still teaches today as a tenured Associate Professor. Read More Read Less