2027 Annual Research Symposium
Share Your Work at the Annual Research Symposium
Call for Abstracts
Deadline: Friday, November 20, 2026
We are accepting abstracts related to research studies, evidence-based projects, integrative reviews or concept analyses that focus on the theme, Demonstrating the Impact of Nursing on Education and Research.
Health Sciences Research, Education Research or Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) Initiatives should highlight cutting-edge and innovative scholarship.
Keynote Speaker
Dawn Bounds, PhD, PMHNP-BC, FAAN
Associate Professor
UC Irvine, Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing
Dr. Dawn Bounds is an Associate Professor of Nursing and Founding Director of the Centering Youth and Families for Empowerment and Resilience (CYFER) Lab at UC Irvine. With over 20 years of clinical practice as a board-certified psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner, her research is driven by an unwavering commitment to health equity for youth and families navigating systemic adversity.
As a first-generation college student, Dr. Bounds intentionally eliminates the line between education and research by creating direct pathways to science by embedding experiential educational opportunities for students from historically underrepresented or first-generation backgrounds into her research.
At the heart of Dr. Bounds' work is authentic partnership with youth and communities. Through Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR), she trains youth as co-researchers and collaborators — ensuring that the communities most impacted by structural violence and mental health inequities have a genuine voice in shaping the interventions designed to serve them.
The CYFER Lab develops culturally grounded, trauma-informed digital mental health interventions that address the structural determinants of health. Dr. Bounds is the Principal Investigator of an NIH/NIDA-funded R01 and a nationally recognized expert in adolescent digital mental health and ethical mHealth innovation.