WVU School of Nursing PhD student and Jonas Scholar receives first place in APP poster contest

Robin Elkins, a WVU School of Nursing PhD student and a 2024-2025 Jonas Scholar, received first place in the Advanced Practice Professionals (APP) poster contest for her “Transcendence to a Better Life” research poster.

WVU Medicine APP’s research committee holds a poster contest every year during APP appreciation week. The nurse practitioners and physician assistants in the hospital can participate by presenting their research posters. The posters get displayed in the hospital atrium and at the annual APP conference, then the research committee has criteria they use to vote on the top three posters.

“Transcendence to a Better Life” was Elkins’ research concept that she developed from what she witnessed during her practice. Elkins said she witnessed a patient who suffered from obesity and had many complications because of it, which led her to see an overarching problem in many individuals who suffer from obesity. The problem was that many adults with obesity encounter many different illnesses and barriers during their journey, which can make weight loss more challenging and even burden quality of life.

Elkins’ research revolves around her idea that different chronic medical conditions, increasing social determinants of health and physical activity limitations can make weight loss more challenging. Her goal of this concept was to figure out ways to improve the issue.

“It was a great experience and it's encouraging to continue to do the work that I'm doing and to continue to mentor other APPs,” Elkins said.

She wants to encourage other APPs to do more research. She said she believes they can use concept development to improve on problem areas they identify in practice. The poster contest is a way to bring light to the issues APPs discover.

“It actually feels really good because I hope to not only get the word of obesity as a disease out there, but that people with obesity do face challenges and that we should look at people differently,” Elkins said. “It's not just, ‘You need to go home and you need to exercise and you need to eat less.’ There are other issues involved with that. It is a disease.”

Regarding her standing as a Jonas Scholar, Elkins said it is going well. They had their first orientation meeting and she greatly admires the Jonas Scholar team. She gets to go to Washington, D.C. in March to learn to be a leader and advocate, while learning how to talk to people on the federal and national level.

“I look back and I think, ‘How could any of that ever happen to me? How did I become so lucky?’ I do not know, but I plan to use it to its fullest advantage and take every opportunity I can get from it,” Elkins said.

-WVU-

bc/10/23/24

MEDIA CONTACT: Wendy Holdren
Director of Communications and Marketing
WVU School of Nursing
304-581-1772; wendy.holdren@hsc.wvu.edu