BS, BSN, RN , Masters (Alumni)
Unique Whitehurst, BS, BSN, RN, is a third year Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) student at Duke University School of Nursing. She earned her B.S. in psychology with a minor in chemistry from South Carolina State University, and her BSN from Duke University. Upon her acceptance to Duke, she was selected as a HRSA-sponsored Health Equity Academy II Scholar and committed her nursing career to addressing the relationship between social determinants of health, health disparities and health equity, specifically in the specialty of psychiatry and mental health. While attending Duke, she partnered with the American Heart Association, Duke Health Cardiology, and Lincoln Community Health Center to conduct research aimed at decreasing the burden of health disparities for African American men with hypertension. She was also selected as a fellow in both the inaugural cohort of the Race and the Professions Fellowship hosted by the Duke Kenan Institute of Ethics and the Duke Grad Engage Fellowship. She currently serves on the Racial Equity Advisory Council to the Duke Board of Trustees.
Ms. Whitehurst has experience in clinical roles as a charge nurse in the psychiatric emergency department of a magnet, level I medical center, clinical nurse in a county-level acute care psychiatric facility, and a nurse educator in a community health center. She is passionate about serving minority populations and has over 10 years of community volunteer experience which include service as: a mentor in the Women and Math Mentorship program for Durham youth, an educator in the Charles Drew University of Math and Science Pipeline Program and Health Literacy Initiative for underserved youth, and a volunteer at Veterans Administration Hospitals.
She is a member of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, American Psychiatric Nursing Association, American Society of Addiction Medicine, American Nurses Association, and Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society.