American Academy of Nursing Fellow
Election as a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing is one of the highest honors a nurse can receive. Inductees join a thriving community of fellows who are nursing leaders in education, management, practice and research recognized for their outstanding impact on health and health care. Fellows engage nurses within and beyond the academy to transform the U.S. healthcare system.
2024-25 Honorees
Kafuli Agbemenu
School of Nursing
Kafuli Agbemenu, PhD, associate professor of nursing, is nationally and internationally recognized for her research on reproductive health equity among underserved populations, particularly African immigrant and refugee women in the U.S. Agbemenu’s scholarship addresses persistent disparities in maternal and reproductive health, emphasizing culturally responsive interventions for non-English-speaking and low-literacy populations. She developed the first smartphone-based family planning intervention tailored for African refugee women. She serves as director of the Community Outreach for Reproductive Empowerment (CORE) Lab and co-lead of the Refugee Health and Well-Being Team at UB’s Center for Global Health Equity. Her findings have informed sexual and reproductive health programs across the country and have been cited by international organizations including UNESCO, which incorporated her work into 27 global policy documents.
A-Z
Kelly Foltz-Ramos
School of Nursing
Kelly Foltz-Ramos, PhD, director of simulation and innovation, and assistant professor in the School of Nursing, is an internationally recognized leader in simulation-based education. Foltz-Ramos has transformed how nurses and interprofessional teams are trained in New York State and beyond. Her work focuses on enhancing clinical preparedness through simulation methodologies that emphasize critical thinking, teamwork and communication. She played a pivotal role in shaping New York’s 2023 nursing simulation legislation and co-leads the SUNY Nursing Simulation Fellows Program, which is building a statewide repository of evidence-based training materials for more than 70 nursing programs. Foltz-Ramos also developed virtual reality training to prepare nursing students for practice in underserved communities and recently led the effort to designate UB as the first SUNY Simulation Center of Excellence.
Eunhee Park
School of Nursing
Eunhee Park, PhD, associate professor in the School of Nursing, is renowned for her groundbreaking work in adolescent health promotion through digital innovation. Her research focuses on preventing risk behaviors—including smoking, e-cigarette use, and substance use—among adolescents and individuals from low-income communities. She currently leads two NIH-funded projects: one, from the National Cancer Institute, to develop AI solutions to combat adolescent e-cigarette use, and another from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, to create a novel ecological measurement tool for e-cigarette use. Dr. Park’s work is rooted in strong community partnerships with rural and urban schools, youth organizations and public health agencies. She has demonstrated national leadership in the American Public Health Association, the Global Korean Nursing Foundation and the Eastern Nursing Research Society.
Daniel Smith
School of Nursing
Daniel Smith, PhD, is an assistant professor in the School of Nursing who is renowned for his forward-thinking work on climate change, environmental health and health equity. Smith’s research centers on the impact of climate change on marginalized populations, focusing on resilience strategies and community-driven adaptation frameworks. He has dedicated his career to improving health outcomes for vulnerable groups, including migrant farmworkers and unhoused individuals, by addressing occupational health risks related to climate change. A leader in shaping critical health policies, Smith co-authored the American Nurses Association 2023 position statement, “Nurses’ Role in Addressing Global Climate Change, Climate Justice, and Health,” and he serves as the chair of the Board of Directors for the Alliance of Nurses for Health Environments.