New Mexico School Nurse Association Annual Conference

Seeing those initials after my name is something I never would have imagined as a 15-year-old picking up the pieces after my mother passed away. My Mom was in a car accident one week before my oldest sister’s wedding. The rest, shall we say, is history, but not just any old story. The community hospital where my Mom was taken was near our house. I rode my bicycle to see her whenever I couldn’t get a ride from my father or grandmother as my next oldest sister had to go back to college. But what I remember the most clearly was how the nurses were so helpful to all of us. That, my friends, made a lasting impression upon this young, naïve, teenage girl. Me. I became a Registered Nurse. I went to the same university as my oldest sister, Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, TN where I got my Bachelor of Science in Nursing. After graduation, I worked in pediatric nursing and then psychiatric-mental health nursing. I completed my Master of Science in Nursing at Vanderbilt and then I taught pediatric nursing at Vanderbilt. It was then that I became interested in all things “legal”. I applied and was accepted to Vanderbilt University Law School where I met and married my husband, David. Thing is, he was a year ahead of me in school at Vanderbilt Law School, and he was going to work in his hometown of Memphis, TN. I secured a job at a law firm in Memphis, and after graduation I started handling medical malpractice cases and began paying off my student loan debt. The more medical malpractice cases I litigated, the more I saw a tremendous need for carefully prepared nurses to serve as nurse expert witnesses in cases. The nurse expert witness, also known as a legal nurse consultant, had beautiful nursing skills but needed to be properly trained in the law. This was the birth of JurexNurse.com.

Dr. Mary Ramos is an academic public health pediatrician whose focus is on public health service, education and community engaged scholarship. A particular emphasis of scholarship is on improving school health services to address pediatric and public health disparities. She has over 36 related peer-reviewed publications, received robust external funding (federal, state, local and foundation) and cemented important relationships with state partners while working to advance school health services for youth in New Mexico. Dr. Ramos’ passion for public health service and clinician education in New Mexico is evidenced by her career trajectory. Dr. Ramos currently serves as the Clinician Concentration Chair for the UNM College of Population Health Masters in Public Health (MPH) program. She advises and mentors dual degree MD/MPH students as well as preventive medicine residents and clinical fellows who are obtaining MPH degrees as part of their graduate medical education. She teaches the PH 561 seminar, “Welcome to the Frontline: Physician Roles in Public Health.” She is the faculty lead for the 950Q MD/MPH Practicum and PH 596, the professional paper for clinician concentration MPH students. She served as Medical Director for the UNM Medical Group School-Based Health Center (SBHC) Program from 2017 to 2024, providing clinical oversight and direction. This program has six clinical sites throughout Albuquerque and all Albuquerque Public School students are eligible for services. During her seven-year tenure as Medical Director, the SBHC Program has been awarded UNMMG Medical Group Clinic of the Year three times. Dr Ramos has provided pediatric services in English and Spanish at the SBHC at East San Jose Elementary School. She was awarded a GRIT Provider Award in 2023 by the national School-Based Health Alliance for being a “Genuine, Resilient, Innovative, and Tenacious” Provider and received the School-Based Health Care Champion Award in 2021 from the NM Alliance for School-Based Health Care. Dr. Ramos led the UNM Pediatrics Adolescent Medicine Rotation from 2017 to 2024. She also served as the School Health Rotation Director for the Prevention Medicine Residency Program for three years. Dr. Ramos’ primary teaching interests have focused on public health practice and public health research mentorship for UNM Health Sciences learners and community public health clinicians. Dr. Ramos has successfully mentored diverse learners and faculty in research resulting in publication. Mentees who have published with Dr. Ramos include MPH candidates, medical students, pediatric faculty, and over a dozen community health professionals. Dr. Ramos has led multiple research collaborations addressing child and adolescent health priorities in our state: substance use, suicide, access to health care, and health equity for minority youth populations, including LGBTQ+ youth. Emphasizing areas of alignment of our shared missions, she has worked closely with agencies such as the NM Department of Health, the NM Public Education Department, the NM Human Services Department, the Albuquerque Public School District, the NM School Nurses Association, the NM Alliance for School-Based Health Care and countless community organizations that contribute to the welfare of youth populations. Her funded research and public health projects have resulted in millions of federal and foundation dollars coming into the state to improve public schools’ supports for LGBTQ+ youth and for school-based health centers (SBHCs) to better address adolescent substance use.