The Podcast Series is intended to guide new and recent graduates to become quality professionals in these troubling times as they seek their careers and adjust to the new realities outside the walls of college campuses. Employers and professionals from various industries will share experiences, guidance, information, instruction and recommendations for graduates. The hope is for graduates to strategically navigate new useful ideas to deal with realities never taught in college.

For this episode, we interviewed our first guest with roots from southeast Asia.  Dr. Irene Molina is a registered nurse with 26 years of combined experiences in critical care nursing, nursing administration, nursing education, research, and public health practice experience.  Her clinical background allows her to practice critical thinking, decision making, and organizational skills to work efficiently under extreme pressure. Dr. Molina has taught as an adjunct faculty for nursing undergraduate and graduate programs for colleges. She has a wealth of practical experiences in health program evaluation, grant reviews, public health advocacy, and legislative policy support.  Dr. Molina had the opportunity to provide technical assistance support to several community-based organizations serving the minority communities in Maryland. As a public health researcher, her special interests included dissemination and translation research, and health disparities research.

Dr. Molina is a staunch advocate of health disparities improvement and minority health.  As a member of American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN), American Association of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), and Maryland Association of Healthcare Executives (MACHE), she utilizes social media platforms to advance her advocacy works. Her vision is to improve health disparities by addressing the impacts of social determinants of health to enhance health outcomes, and health care utilization.