Nursing’s Role in Improving Health Equity– Dr. Emerson Ea, NYU Meyers College of Nursing

Raise the Line

Growing up in the Philippines, Dr. Emerson Ea’s dreams of becoming a doctor were dashed by the high cost of education. He studied nursing instead, and realized the work was more than just a science—it was an art. “That was quite a revelation,” he tells host Dr. Rishi Desai, and now he can’t imagine another path. Beyond decades of clinical work, Dr. Ea earned a Ph.D, a DNP, and became a professor at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing, where he’s now a dean. The Covid-19 pandemic upended not just his educational universe, but his advocacy and research -- often focused on health outcomes in the Filipino American community -- which the pandemic hit with devastating force. But as he envisions the road to healthcare equity, Dr. Ea focuses on the power of education to enable the next cadre of nurses to create better healthcare systems. Tune in to hear how Meyers College of Nursing made the best of online learning, the essential role of Filipino American healthcare workers, and why a nursing education opens literally hundreds of career paths.