Eugenia Trammell-Goldsby, RN, is a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) student whose leadership qualities emerged at age 10, when she directed 30 choir voices at a church led by her Baptist minister father in Gary, Indiana. She is graduating this June from the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing’s Post Master’s Doctor of Nursing Practice program, aiming to apply her knowledge on the floor as a nurse manager in the transplant unit at UMass Memorial Medical Center.
“What makes my work exciting is seeing the teamwork our nurses do with transplant recipients to give them a second chance at life,” said Trammell-Goldsby. “Being able to see transplant patients receive their organs and watching the difference it makes for them is very fulfilling.”
After earning a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Atlantic Union College and a master’s degree in management with a concentration in health care management from Cambridge College, Trammell-Goldsby observed how informal mentorships and sponsorship strengthen career advancement opportunities.
“As a Black nurse leader, I want to be able to affect other young minority nurses who are coming up and, now that I have the tools and have gained more skills, help them along their career paths and guide them because I didn’t have that,” she said.
Trammell-Goldsby ran a Black nurse leader mentorship pilot program at UMass Memorial Medical Center last year, inviting industry professionals from across the country to speak to five nurses aspiring to become nurse leaders for her DNP project. Two of the pilot program participants have since been accepted into leadership positions.
“We talked about communication, delegation, self-care, how to deal with conflict, difficult situations and difficult people. They also worked with mentors and networked. Now they have career partners, mentors and other leaders in their corner,” Trammell-Goldsby said.
Trammell-Goldsby, who serves as the music minister for the choir at her church in Ayer, has grown as a leader since those early days in front of a congregation.
“I’ve always been out front and able to make suggestions to figure out how to get from here to there,” Trammell-Goldsby said. “I’ve always collaborated with other individuals as part of a choir. The expectation I set for myself is to learn how to do that in my nursing career.”
