Jade Burns

Jade Burns, Ph.D., R.N., CPNP-PC, a nurse-scientist and expert in community-engaged research, technology-based interventions, and youth sexual health and healthcare access, completed the National Clinician Scholars Program (NCSP) in 2019. Dr. Burns is now an assistant professor of nursing at the University of Michigan (U-M). 

For most of her career, Burns has worked to improve reproductive and preventive healthcare for young men and youth of color in close partnership with the Detroit Community Health Connection (DCHC), a Federally Qualified Health Center. Burns joined the organization in 2011 as a clinician running a teen-focused clinic, and with time rose to the position of DCHC director. Her work with young patients there exposed many gaps in their healthcare, and as she stepped away from her role as DCHC director to pursue her Ph.D. in nursing from U-M, she promised to stay connected to the organization to continue the vital work of identifying and addressing the needs of this vulnerable population. 

After completing her Ph.D. in 2016, Burns looked for opportunities to grow her academic network, expand her research experience, and complete training focused on both policy and research. She joined the NCSP in 2017, choosing the program at IHPI because, “it was a good fit for my family, and it was a good fit for me in terms of going outside the box for additional training.” 

As a Scholar, Burns expanded her academic network and collaborated with individuals whose expertise was distinctly different from her own. “It was important for me to get outside of nursing and get some other feedback,” especially on her grant writing, Burns explains. During the program, she refined her skills in statistical analysis and grantsmanship, receiving three grants during her time in the NCSP. Her work as a Scholar also helped her prepare the proposal for her current career development award from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, as she worked with other Scholars, participated in workshops, and received support and advice from mentors and co-directors. “Those resources really helped build the larger grant that I needed to help me stay [at U-M] as a faculty member,” she says.

Through her career development award research, Burns has continued her close community partnership with the DCHC. Her work uses social media and other digital platforms to connect young men to essential healthcare services and explores how young men of color interact with healthcare online. “We look at everything. We look at how people use email, how we distribute the information, how it gets to the community,” she explains. “We’re not just looking at ‘likes,’ but how do they interact and who are the thought leaders that are leading the messages and saying, ‘It’s okay to get care.’”

Through this work, Burns is focused on promoting sexual reproductive health and safe sex behaviors for young men of color. Burns assesses not only what interventions encourage these men to engage with the healthcare system, but also analyzes how these interventions impact healthcare outcomes, including whether individuals continue to receive care. 

Burns has also assembled a community advisory board comprised of young men of color in the Detroit area to ensure her work is in line with the needs and priorities of this population. In group sessions led by community members, Burns creates a space for personal connection and support, a resource often lacking for young men. “Whatever they're doing in life, [they] have this persona, this person that they have to be,” she explains. “But when you get around people who look like you, who have the same needs, all that goes away.” In these sessions, men identify top healthcare priorities and can also sign up to join the community advisory board.

While Burns and others have designed interventions to address gaps in care for this population, she acknowledges that such efforts may not reach those who need them if not supported by the policy environment or made a policy priority. Thus, she constantly considers the intersection of her work with policy and how shifts in the policy landscape may impact healthcare access and quality, especially for young Black men. “Every time I do something, I think, ‘What’s the next thing, the policy change,’” Burns explains.

“Every time I do something, I think, ‘What’s the next thing, the policy change.’”

– Jade Burns

Burns maintains her close ties with IHPI as a member of the Early Career Faculty Advisory Council and the steering committee of the Workforce Diversity and Health Equity team, where she co-leads a workgroup focused on improving retention of health sciences faculty with a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion perspective. This group is currently surveying healthcare faculty and health services researchers at the University to explore their perspectives on the institution and identify areas where more support may be needed. “How can we move our faculty forward and feel supported and have them stay here?” she explains.

Burns notes that her continued connection with IHPI has sustained the support she received as a Scholar; “The resources and the networking – they have expanded as I grew in my career, and they have always supported me.”