Overview of Funding Opportunities: Bureau of Health Workforce Nursing Programs

CAPT Tarsha Cavanaugh is Chief of the Nurse Corps Scholarship Branch where she oversees $27 million in Federal funds to award scholarships annually to over 200 students accepted or enrolled in a nursing degree program at an accredited school of nursing located throughout the United States. She also manages the Native Hawaiian Health Scholarship Program portfolio totaling $1.4 million in Federal funds specifically geared to students pursuing degrees in 20 health and allied health professions to deliver quality, culturally competent health services to Native Hawaiians throughout the State of Hawai’i. In addition to her Branch Chief duties, she also co-leads BHW’s Grantee Engagement Plan (GEP), a strategic public health initiative aimed at strengthening academic, clinical, and community-based partnerships.

CAPT has previously worked in the HRSA, HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB), Division of Policy and Data as a Senior Public Health Analyst, providing advisement on programmatic policies and regulations germane to the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP). Prior to joining HAB, CAPT Cavanaugh was assigned to the HRSA Office of Women’s Health, as a women’s health advisor and subject matter expert on Departmental and Agency-wide policy and programmatic initiatives. In this capacity, she led the implementation of three high priority areas in OWH’s strategic plan, violence prevention/home visiting domestic violence benchmark, and trauma-informed care, as well as, stakeholder engagement activities. CAPT Cavanaugh has over 22 years of public health experience working in adolescent health, youth suicide prevention, mental health, health workforce, women’s health and HIV/AIDS policy.

Dr. Toni Eason, is the Director of the Division of Health Careers and Financial Support and joined the Bureau of Health Workforce in October 2020 from the Department of Labor where she served as a Branch Chief in the Medical Benefits Adjudication program. She is an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse who brings a wide range of experience in health workforce development best practices with a focus on rural health, immigration health, minority health and health literacy. Dr. Eason has spent the majority of her career dedicated to health workforce development best practices, business process re-engineering and the optimization of fiscal operations. She has more than 20 years’ experience in the healthcare space, with expertise focused on rural health, immigration health, minority health, and health literacy. Dr. Eason is an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse, who received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Howard University and dual Master of Science degrees from the University of Maryland in both Public/Community Health Nursing and Health Policy; a Doctorate in Nursing Practice from Rush University was granted, with a focus on Leadership and the Business of HealthCare and a Post-Master’s Certificate in Nursing Informatics from Walden University. Dr. Eason is also a Fellow of the American Association of Occupation Health Nurses.

Captain Sophia L. Russell, D.M., M.B.A., R.N., NE-BC, SHRM-SCP, a member of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, is the Director of the Division of Nursing and Public Health at the Health Resources and Services Administration in the Bureau of Health Workforce, where she is responsible for the strategic guidance for a $319M/year portfolio of programs spanning more than 800 federal awards (FY20) in nursing, public health, and behavioral health. In this capacity, Captain Russell serves as principal advisor on strategies and decisions regarding national policy with regard to support of nursing practice and education, and behavioral and public health programs.

Captain Russell holds a Doctorate of Management degree in organizational leadership from the University of Phoenix and received a Master of Business Administration (with a concentration in corporate finance) from John Hopkins University. She is a graduate of Norfolk State University with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and holds a post-graduate certificate in Global Health from the University of Maryland. She is board certified as a Nurse Executive by the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

Captain Russell has spent the vast majority of her nursing career working in the field of nursing administration and workforce development and management. She began her nursing career through the Army’s Specialized Training for Army Readiness (STAR) program. Over the course of her nursing career, some of her assignments include tours of duty at the Office of the Unites States Surgeon General, Division of Commissioned Corps Personnel and Readiness; on staff at the Defense Health Agency and TRICARE Management Activity; on staff at the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute; and as a staff nurse with the Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons.