Early in my career in Zimbabwe, I worked as a psychiatric nurse, midwife, and community health nurse in various settings where I taught nursing fundamentals, maternal child and community health nursing in the clinical area. My initial nursing experience reinforced my interests in women's and adolescents' health and public policy. Later in my career I lobbied for self-governance in nursing in Zimbabwe and taught in an undergraduate distance education program. At the time I also worked as a nurse leader facilitating improved access to primary health care and integration of mental health, family planning, adolescent reproductive and sexual health, and HIV/AIDS prevention services.

The stories of young people and health care providers inoculated my desire to pursue doctoral education in the US. As a teaching/research assistant I engaged students in research both as participants and researchers. My doctoral dissertation examined cultural meanings and sexual experiences of young black African women living in the United States. In the context of living with cultural contradictions, narratives revealed practicing safer sex was less a problem of knowledge than that of limited sexual agency. The findings suggested that HIV interventions need to cultivate young women's sexual agency and address sexual violence prevention.

I am drawn to women's health and adolescents' sexual health, HIV/AIDS prevention, health disparities research. Before I joined the University of Saskatchewan I interned with a seasoned nurse epidemiologist leading the National Children's Study in St. Louis in order to hone my skills in maternal child health and mental health issues. I look forward to meeting and learning from students, faculty, and the people. I am motivated to engage students in research and to collaborate with local and international researchers with similar interests. I feel honored to join the College of Nursing-University of Saskatchewan Northern Campus in Prince Albert.

• Women's health
• Sexual awareness
• HIV/AIDS prevention
• Community-based health disparities
• Nursing in a global context

• Qualitative (Interpretive Phenomenology)
• Quantitative
• Mixed methods