New Faculty Expand on School’s Areas of Excellence in Teaching, Research and Practice

Gerardo Flores, PhD, RN, MSN, MSK, joins UCLA Nursing as an assistant teaching professor. Flores earned his Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology/Spanish at California State University, Fullerton; his Master of Science in Kinesiology at California State University, Fullerton, specializing in Gero Kinesiology; and a second master’s degree, in nursing at UCLA. He was awarded his PhD in Nursing at UCLA in 2021. Flores’ teaching experience has included nursing clinical skills lab, medical-surgical nursing theory, and clinical practicums for prelicensure students.

“What drew me to the UCLA Joe C. Wen School of Nursing was its commitment to inclusive excellence in nursing education, its collaborative community, and its dedication to preparing students to serve a wide range of patients and communities with skill, humility, responsibility, selflessness, and integrity,” Flores says. “I’m excited to be part of a school that values high standards in teaching, meaningful scholarship, and the preparation of future nurse leaders.”

Kamala Gipson-McElroy, DNP, APRN, PHN, CPNP-PC, who has joined the fac-lty as an assistant teaching professor, is a board-certified pediatric primary care nurse practitioner whose scholarship focuses on pediatric primary care education, advanced practice provider workforce development, and leadership in pediatric health systems. Prior to joining UCLA, she served in executive advanced practice leadership at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, where she led clinical practice, workforce development, and integration for more than 200 nurse practitioners and physician assistants across over 50 pediatric subspecialties.

Gipson-McElroy is passionate about preparing the next generation of pediatric nurse practitioners through clinically grounded teaching, leadership development, and innovative approaches to advanced practice nursing education. “I was drawn to UCLA Nursing because of its longstanding commitment to excellence in nursing education, innovation, and impact across diverse communities,” Gipson-McElroy says. “My clinical and leadership experience in pediatric healthcare has shaped my commitment to preparing pediatric nurse practitioners who are not only clinically competent, but innovative and grounded in pediatric evidence-based practice. I am excited to contribute to the preparation of pediatric nurse practitioners through clinically rigorous, practice-ready education that emphasizes diagnostic reasoning, com-prehensive assessment, and thoughtful clinical decision-making. I look for-ward to collaborating with faculty and students to advance pediatric nursing education and improve outcomes for children and families.”

Stacey Green, DNP, AOCNP, GNP-BC, PMHNP-BC, is a nurse practitioner who is board-certified in geriatrics, oncology, and psychiatry. In addition to working for the past 20 years as an APRN in a diverse range of practices — including geriatrics, infectious disease, oncology, neurology, and psychiatry — she has served as a clinical liaison, lecturer, and assistant professor with UCLA Nursing’s Adult Gerontology Acute Care APRN program since 2010. 

In 2024, Green became the first teaching professor appointed at UCLA Nursing. While she has taught across academic programs, including primary and acute care, she currently serves as campus lead for the UC Post-Master’s Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) program, a collaboration among the four UC nursing campuses enabled by a grant Green was awarded from the California Department of Health Care Access and Information.

“Forty percent of Californians live in a mental health care provider shortage area,” Green says. “There is a huge need for mental health providers. This role allows me to help fill that need, engage in scholarship, and share the passion for nursing that the faculty instilled in me. I’m committed to fostering growth in my students and helping them continue UCLA’s legacy of excellence in nursing. I hope to inspire them to come back and pay it forward.”

Ian W. Holloway, PhD, LCSW, MPH, is a professor and director of research at the UCLA Joe C. Wen School of Nursing whose applied behavioral health re-search examines the contextual factors that contribute to health disparities among sexual and gender minority populations. An expert in social net-work analysis, Holloway is particularly interested in how social media and new technologies can be harnessed for health promotion and disease prevention. 

Holloway has been a principal investigator on research studies funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the California HIV/AIDS Research Pro-gram. He currently directs the Southern California HIV/AIDS Policy Research Center, which brings the most relevant and timely evidence to bear on California’s efforts to develop and maintain efficient, cost-effective, and accessible programs and services to people living with or at risk for HIV/AIDS.

Sungwon Park, PhD, RN, COHN-S, FAAOHN, has joined the school as an assistant professor. Her research explores factors influencing sedentary behavior and physical activity at multiple levels for workers who are at risk of or having metabolic syndrome. She aims to develop effective interventions tailored to different organizational and environmental contexts to prevent and manage metabolic syndrome, address-ing a significant gap in the literature, where few studies have systematically identified these multi-level factors across diverse settings.

Prior to joining UCLA Nursing, Park completed three years in a dual position as a postdoctoral fellow with the highly competitive Michigan Society of Fellows and as a non-tenure track assistant professor with the University of Michigan School of Nursing. After arriving at UCLA, she received recognition for her contribution to occupational health nationally as a fellow of the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses, and earned certification as an occupational health nurse specialist.

“I am so excited to join the faculty at the UCLA Joe C. Wen School of Nursing,” Park says. “The UCLA/UCI Southern California Education Research Center is one of 11 university occupational health nursing programs supported by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health across the U.S. I hope I can contribute through research, teaching, and service to deepen occupational health, specifically in the aging work-force, at UCLA.”

Joosun Shin, PhD, RN, AGACNP, has joined UCLA Nursing as an assistant professor. Her research focuses on dyspnea (shortness of breath) throughout the lung cancer care continuum. It harnesses diverse big-data sources, including electronic health records and large, longitudinal clinical datasets with multi-modal variables. These datasets include smokers with and without chronic lung disease, as well as lung cancer patients and survivors who have undergone lung resection, chemotherapy, and/or immunotherapy. Through a multi-modal, big-data-driven approach that integrates machine learning, advanced statistical modeling, and omics analytics, Shin aims to identify the sociodemographic, clinical, physiological (including spirometry), molecular (omics), and imaging characteristics associated with dyspnea.

Shin’s long-term goal is to identify high-risk lung cancer patients who develop or experience worsening dyspnea before and after treatment, enabling clinicians to implement targeted, personalized interventions. 

“As an alumnus, I was drawn back by the enduring UCLA Bruin spirit and the opportunity to pay forward the support and community that shaped my journey,” Shin says. “I’m excited to contribute and help cultivate that same sense of belonging for fellow Bruins.”