Dominique Bulgin, PhD’19, currently serves as a consulting associate and postdoctoral fellow with the Duke National Clinician Scholars Program.

Bulgin’s desire to enter the nursing field stems from the experiences of her mom and her mom’s sister, who had leukemia and died at the age of 35. After her sister’s passing, Bulgin’s mom emigrated from Jamaica to the U.S., and, after seeing the treatments available to leukemia patients in the U.S., wondered if her sister would still be alive if she had the same type of treatment available to her in Jamaica.

“This experience made me aware of health disparities and equities from an early age and inspired both my decision to become a nurse and my interest in global research,” Bulgin said.

Bulgin has a particular interest in sickle cell disease (SCD), which some of her family and friends have. Before nursing school, she volunteered for a sickle cell clinic. In 2020, she, her mentor, Paula Tanabe, vice dean, Research, and her team received an award for her REACH Equity Research Scholars Development proposal on the application of a telehealth Personalized Health Planning in Shared Medical Appointments (PHP-SMA) program to help improve SCD self-management. The year before, she co-wrote with Christian Douglas, consulting associate, and Tanabe an article recapping a pilot test of two sickle cell-specific instruments.

Bulgin has also contributed to pieces on survivors of gender-based violence and police violence and unjust policing. She was chosen in 2018 to become a member of Duke’s Inaugural National Clinician Scholars Cohort.

“DUSON’s community and resources never ceases to amaze me,” she said. “I cannot understate the wealth of resources and support I have been able to tap into throughout my time as a student and now postdoc at DUSON.”