Black History Month: Nurse Pioneers
By Hayden Burfitt (UNLV School of Nursing Student Worker - Communications)
Emily Boyce, Ph.D., RN, NI-BC, NE-BC
Phone
Associate Professor-in-Residence
Nursing
Expertise
Dr. Boyce specializes in the field of Nursing Informatics. Her areas of expertise include systems needs analysis, determining user requirements, clinical decision support, standards and structured terminologies, systems selection, systems implementation and training, data analytics, and process improvement projects. She has held leadership roles for a large hospital system with responsibilities to ensure optimal documentation and integrity of the electronic health record, as well as facilitating the implementation, improvement, development, and acceptance of various healthcare technology tools. She was also a former Associate Dean for a nursing school.
Her clinical experience culminated at the bedside working in Neurology/Neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins Hospital; she also has experience in critical care.
Classes Taught
Dr. Boyce teaches Informatics and Policy courses for the Master’s and Doctoral programs as well as Leadership for the Undergraduate program.
Education Background
Dr. Boyce earned her doctoral degree in Nursing Education from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She earned a Master’s of Science in Nursing Informatics from the University of Maryland, Baltimore and a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing from The College of New Jersey.
Research or Scholarship
Dr. Boyce’s research interests include investigating factors that influence nurses’ acceptance and readiness to use healthcare technologies in the clinical setting. Specifically, Dr. Boyce wishes to investigate whether prior experiences with technology, systems implementation approaches, and other process-of-change behaviors influence preparedness of nurses to use healthcare technologies safely and efficiently.
Awards, Recognitions, or Group Affiliations
Dr. Boyce is a member of many professional organizations including American Nurses Association, Nevada Nurses Association, American Nursing Informatics Association, and Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.
Dr. Emily Boyce joined the UNLV School of Nursing in 2023 and serves as an Associate Professor in Residence. She brings over 20 years of experience in clinical, leadership, and academic settings. She is a board-certified Nurse Executive and Informatics Nurse Specialist by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC).
Tiffini N. Tasby
Phone
Administrative Assistant III
Nursing
Tiffini N. Tasby serves as an Administrative Assistant III for the UNLV School of Nursing, supporting the BSN program, and serving on the events committee. Tiffini previously held a position as an auditor with The AZ Department of Economic Security.
Tiffini has taken steps to complete the Admin Academy at UNLV. She has also earned college credits from Laney College in Oakland, CA with plans to obtain her BSN in Bachelor of Arts in Journalism & Media Studies at UNLV during Summer 2024.
Nikesha Mobley, DNP, APRN, AGACNP-BC
Phone
Assistant Professor-in-Residence
Nursing
Expertise
Dr. Mobley’s clinical experience as a Nurse Practitioner includes bariatrics, geriatrics, primary care, inpatient perioperative nursing and home health.
Classes Taught
Dr. Mobley will be teaching Pathophysiology and Genetics I, Advanced Health Assessment lab and Nurse Practitioner Business and Roles.
Education Background
In 2018, Dr. Mobley earned a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Previously, she earned her AAS in Nursing from Alvin Community College, MS in Pathology Assistant from Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science and a BS in Biological Sciences from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Research or Scholarship
Dr. Mobley’s current clinical research focus is in the area of managing overweight and obesity in adults. She is also the chair of the Programs, Projects and Education committee of the Eta Eta Eta Chapter of Chi Eta Phi Sorority, Inc, a professional Nursing organization, where she organizes an annual community health fair with over 20 vendors at the West Las Vegas Library.
Awards, recognitions, and/or group affiliations
Dr. Mobley is a member of many professional organizations including American Association of Nurse Practitioners, American Nurses Association, Nevada Nurses Association and Vice President of the Las Vegas Chapter, Eta Eta Eta, of Chi Eta Phi Sorority, Incorporated. In these roles, she provides education, mentorship, and engagement in community service activities.
She is an award recipient of Eta Eta Eta Davis Leadership (6/2023), Nevada Nurses Foundation Shining Stars of Nursing in Nevada 50 under 50 (10/2021), University of Illinois at Chicago Chancellor’s Student Service award (04/2018) and Advocate Nursing Research Symposium Evidence-based Practice Poster People’s Choice award (04/2018).
Dr. Nikesha Mobley joined UNLV School of Nursing July 2023 as an Assistant Professor-in-Residence. She is certified as an Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner. Prior to her new role, Dr. Mobley was lead Nurse Practitioner at Las Vegas Bariatrics, managing patients as they go through the bariatric surgery program, and Adjunct Nursing faculty at the College of Southern Nevada. She is also founder/owner of Elite Health and Wellness, a primary care and aesthetics medical practice in Las Vegas.
Emma Schmid
702-895-0651
Phone
Student Success Facilitator
3018
Nursing
Emma serves the UNLV School of Nursing as a Student Success Facilitator. She started working for the School of Nursing in January 2024. Emma graduated with a Bachelor’s in Social Work in May 2023 from UNLV. Throughout her undergrad, she was very involved with the campus as a student leader, a student worker at the Student Recreation and Wellness Center, and a student in the BSW Program. She is currently studying American Sign Language at the College of Southern Nevada. She is also looking to get her Master’s in Social Work at UNLV.
Emma has experience in working with students with disabilities. She interned at BlindConnect as a Social Work student and supported students at the Disability Resource Center. Her goals are to serve students and equip them with the skills and support they need to be successful.
Ashley Lamarca
Phone
Enrollment Coordinator
3018
Nursing
Ashley Lamarca serves the School of Nursing as the Enrollment Coordinator for graduate programs. She is responsible for promoting nursing graduate programs at conferences and college fairs as well as assisting prospective students with inquiries regarding enrollment. Ashley also oversees all graduate students entering the School of Nursing and helps guide them through the admissions process.
Ashley previously held a position in Roseman University of Health Sciences as an Admissions Coordinator. She has also worked for Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance as an Events and Marketing intern and at The Harbor as a Family Resource Specialist. Ashley currently possesses a Bachelor’s of Arts in Psychology and plans to start her Master’s in Education Curriculum & Instruction with an emphasis in Educational Technology at UNLV during Summer 2023.
Brenda McComb
Phone
Administrative Assistant III
Nursing
Brenda McComb provides administrative support to the School of Nursing department as Administrative Assistant III.
Brenda has held numerous positions in her work career. Her most memorable jobs were with the Walt Disney Company, where she joined the opening team for Disney Baby and operated the front desk at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and Spa. Recently, Brenda worked as the Principal’s Secretary for Rubidoux High School in Riverside, CA for five years.
Carly Pasquale, RN, MSN
Phone
Director of Clinical Operations
Expertise
Carly's experience as an RN includes interventional radiology, event critical care, emergency department, corrections, and medical/surgical nursing. She also has experience teaching de-escalation/crisis prevention to nurses in inpatient settings.
Classes Taught
Carly has experience teaching clinical rotations for NURS 401 and NURS 313.
Education Background
Carly earned her MSN from Touro University Nevada in 2022. She previously completed her BSN at Nevada State University, and her ADN from College of Southern Nevada.
Awards, Recognition, or Group Affiliations
Carly won the Daisy Award in 2019. She joined Sigma Theta Tau Honor's Society of Nursing at Nevada State University while working on her BSN.
Carly is the Director of Clinical Operations for the UNLV School of Nursing. She works closely with local clinical partners, students, and faculty to coordinate and facilitate clinical experiences for both graduate and undergraduate students. She also holds a lecturer faculty role.
Michelle Willis, MSN, RN
Part-Time Instructor
Michelle earned her bachelor of science in nursing in the fall of 2017. After graduation, she began working in a neurosurgical ICU in Las Vegas. She earned her master of science in nursing with an emphasis in nursing education in the summer of 2022. She then began working as a part-time clinical instructor in the undergraduate program while still working as a full-time ICU nurse.
The DAISY Award
The DAISY Award
UNLV School of Nursing is proud to partner with The DAISY Foundation to honor outstanding graduating (level four) nursing students with a nationally recognized DAISY award.
Awardees can be nominated by their peers, preceptors, faculty, patients, or managers, and will meet the following criteria points:
- Demonstrates commitment to compassionate care of patients and families
- Makes a connection with patients, families and peers by building trust and respect
- Advocates strongly for patients and families
- Demonstrates high levels of nursing leadership
Please use the form below to make a nomination by April 7, 2023, to be presented at the Nursing Recognition Ceremony this May.
About The DAISY Foundation
The DAISY Foundation was established in memory of J. Patrick Barnes who died at 33 of ITP, an auto-immune disease. The Foundation focuses on the nursing profession through recognition programs for nurses, nursing faculty and nursing students. The Foundation seeks to inspire nurses to provide extraordinary care not only with their brains, but also with their hearts.