QA With PhD Student Luke Velickoff
Acute care NP Luke Velickoff, now a 色戒直播 Nursing PhD student, shared how nursing science, community partnership, and policy change can improve care for medically underserved populations.
When preparing to become an acute care nurse practitioner in rural Appalachia, Luke Velickoff encountered the problem that would eventually become the focus of their PhD research at 色戒直播: a lack of resources outlining best practice guidelines for the care of transgender and gender-expansive (TGE) persons during critical illness, complex disease states, or following invasive medical procedures. Velickoff, who, in addition to recently being accepted into the Emory NIH-Funded (R25) Advanced Research Training (ART) Fellowship focused on addressing social determinants of health and named a , also received the Community Scholar Award at this year's PhD Awards Breakfast, explained they wish to 鈥渄rive the development of better clinical tools, stronger interventions, and ultimately, improved patient outcomes and healthcare utilization鈥 for LGBTQIA+ patients in acute care settings. Below, Velickoff shared more about their nursing journey and research goals.
How did growing up in West Virginia influence your perspective on health, community, and access to care?
Growing up in West Virginia, my family instilled in me the belief that regardless of social class or wealth, an individual with a strong moral compass and an unyielding work ethic could accomplish anything in life they desired. However, I quickly learned that the path to achievement is far more complex than morality and sheer determination alone. To me, hard work has always seemed to be one of the more self-controllable aspects of 鈥渟uccess.鈥 In our society, however, systemic barriers and deep-rooted injustices shape access, availability, and opportunity in ways that individual effort cannot always fully overcome. Simply put, the bar is not set equitably for everyone. My purpose in pursuing a PhD in nursing is to challenge that inequity as it relates to individual health and wellness, by generating the evidence needed to develop affirming, nurse-led models of care for the marginalized, underserved, and overlooked populations of rural Appalachia.
What do you believe are the most urgent health challenges facing people in rural Appalachia today, and what do we tend to overlook when we talk about those challenges?
Having been raised in West Virginia and spending the majority of my career working alongside its communities, I can speak most authentically to the health challenges facing individuals in that specific sub-region of Appalachia. From my vantage point, the most urgent health needs in West Virginia center on the opioid epidemic and the rising HIV transmission rates it has driven, an outbreak the Centers for Disease Control identified as the most concerning in the nation as recently as 2021. These disparities have been directly shaped by absent state policy increasing harm reduction access and are further compounded by systemic social inequity. What we tend to overlook, however, is that addressing these challenges requires two things: first, and most foundational, making the health of marginalized and medically underserved populations a genuine priority; and second, recognizing Appalachia not only as a geographic region but as a cultural context, where trust is earned through presence, reciprocity, and a commitment to community-defined priorities. That trust has been steadily eroded by decades of neglect, and rebuilding it is the foundational first step toward meaningfully addressing the health challenges these communities face.
If you could change one policy or practice tomorrow to improve health equity in rural Appalachian communities, what would it be and why?
If I could change one policy tomorrow to improve health equity in rural Appalachian communities, it would be the implementation of full practice authority for advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs). Nurses are the most trusted profession in America and consistently represent the largest segment of the healthcare workforce, yet in many states, outdated collaborative practice requirements continue to restrict their ability to practice to the full extent of their education and training. In rural communities where provider shortages are most pronounced and access to care is already fragile, these restrictions do not protect patients; they harm them. Full practice authority is not simply a policy agenda, but a health equity intervention. Nurses have both the expertise and the ethical responsibility to shape the policies that govern their practice. My work on the Executive Board of the West Virginia Nurses Association, where I advocated for inclusive and equitable legislation for APRNs, reinforced my belief that policy change is not something that happens to nursing; it is something nursing must actively drive. As I continue my doctoral training, my recent acceptance into the 色戒直播-Margolis Health Policy Scholars Program marks an important next step in that work, giving me the evidence base, partnerships, and policy translation skills needed to advance full practice authority and broader health equity reforms across the institutional, state, and federal levels.
How are you engaging rural communities and stakeholders in your research?
What recharges me in my work are the same principles that first drew me to nursing: genuine human connection, service to my community, and a professional purpose rooted in easing human suffering. To keep that commitment alive as my career shifts toward a focus on scientific inquiry, I have been developing a community collaborative comprised of individuals whose lived experiences directly align with my scholarly focus. By centering their voices at every phase of the research process, from hypothesis development through dissemination, I aim to ensure that my work reflects community-defined priorities and produces findings that are not only rigorous but meaningful to those most impacted.
Where do you see your work going after the PhD (academia, practice leadership, policy, entrepreneurship), and what kind of impact do you hope to make?
After my dissertation defense and probable post-doctoral training, I plan to transition to a role in academia, drawn by the opportunity to produce and disseminate research that advances the nursing profession and improves health outcomes for medically underserved populations. However, one of the most compelling aspects of becoming a nurse scientist is that the role is never doomed to be unidirectional; the knowledge and credibility generated through rigorous scholarly inquiry creates opportunities to influence clinical practice, shape health policy, and engage in leadership beyond the walls of any single institution.
Impact, to me, is not a credential or a publication record. It is a TGE patient in rural West Virginia receiving affirming, high-quality care during a medical crisis. It is an APRN equipped with the rigorous evidence to drive meaningful change in clinical practice. It is the enactment of multilevel policy that the community itself helped produce. If I can point to that pattern of change, I will know I am on the right track.