Distinguished Alumni

Peggy Berwald, M.S.N. ’00
Berwald is senior vice president of patient services and chief nursing officer of Torrance Memorial Medical Center, a 401-bed, not-for-profit community hospital in Torrance, Calif. In that role she is responsible for the provision of high-quality and cost-effective patient care, as well as for the standards of nursing care and professional practice across the organization, working closely with the senior executive team, physician leadership and hospital board of directors. Berwald has 36 years of experience in an acute care environment, the last 31 of them at Torrance Memorial Medical Center. She began at the medical center as a direct patient care staff nurse in the intensive care unit and went on to become intensive care unit supervisor, followed by positions as supervisor and then director of coordinated care. Berwald has also worked in medical surgical services and nursing education.
 



Aaron J. Strehlow, Ph.D. ’01
Since 1986, Strehlow has practiced full time as a nurse practitioner at the UCLA School of Nursing’s academic nursing center at the Union Rescue Mission, and since 1995 he has served as the center’s administrator. The clinic provides primary healthcare to the homeless and indigent on Los Angeles’ Skid Row and is part of the National Health Care for the Homeless Program. In his professional career Strehlow has been involved in all aspects of homeless healthcare, mostly at a clinical practice level. He has worked with all levels of students in the clinic over the years, and has been actively involved with the National Health Care for the Homeless Council and Clinician’s Network, serving in both member and officer roles. Strehlow has lectured nationally on homeless healthcare issues, has conducted patientcentered research and serves on several advisory boards focused on health-related problems of vulnerable populations. He also serves as an assistant clinical professor at the UCLA School of Nursing, lecturing on pharmacology and other topics.



Capt. Lori S. Frank, M.S.N. ’ 02
Frank has served as a general duty staff nurse in a large healthcare facility and in medium-sized ambulatory centers, both in the United States and overseas. She has taught and designed curricula for the medical basic school (Corps school), having twice served with the Marine Corps and in a joint assignment with the Army. She returned in March 2007 from deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. While in Al Asad, Iraq, she was the senior nurse and officer-in-charge of ancillary services at a busy Level II surgical hospital. In early 2008 Frank was transferred from Naval Health Clinic in Corpus Christi, Texas to the Medical Education and Training Command in San Antonio. She is currently the Navy representative to the Base Closure and Realignment Commission initiative to move all service-enlisted medical training to San Antonio. Frank’s many awards include the Fleet Marine Force Qualification, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, and the Humanitarian Service Medal.



Lorna Kendrick, Ph.D. ’03
Kendrick, an associate professor of nursing at Loma Linda University, has had a wide variety of experiences during her 31-year nursing career, from positions in critical care and neuro-ICU to director of nursing and associate dean of an undergraduate program. Since 1995 she has maintained a private practice as a child/adolescent nurse practitioner, particularly focusing on mental health issues. Kendrick has conducted research on disparities in the health and mental health care of young African American men. While attending the UCLA School of Nursing for her doctorate, she was the first nursing student to receive the UCLA Graduate Division Chancellor’s Award. She went on to join the Vanderbilt University faculty as an assistant professor, then served as associate dean of the B.S.N. program at Tennessee State University before joining the Loma Linda University faculty in 2006.

 


Cecilia Mendoza, B.S. ’03, M.S.N. ’05
In September 2008, Mendoza, a family nurse practitioner who had graduated with her master’s degree from the UCLA School of Nursing’s Bridge Program three years earlier, was mobilized in support of Operation Enduring Freedom to provide medical support to the wounded sailors, marines, soldiers, and airmen who were injured or became ill in Afghanistan or Iraq. It was a dramatic experience that taught Mendoza much about evidence-based care of patients with multiple trauma, traumatic brain injuries, and post-traumatic stress disorders. Previously, Mendoza had worked three years for the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department as a family nurse practitioner providing care for the male and female inmates. After starting her career as a medical assistant before becoming first an L.V.N. and then an R.N., she worked as an emergency room nurse until applying to the UCLA School of Nursing for her advanced education and training.




Charles Griffis, Ph.D. ’05
After graduating in 1981 with a Master’s in Nurse Anesthesia from the UCLA School of Medicine, Griffis spent the next two decades working as a clinician and clinical educator for the UCLA Nurse Anesthesia Program, part of the Department of Anesthesiology. In 2001 he entered the UCLA School of Nursing’s doctoral program and the following year, under the guidance of his adviser and committee chair Dr. Peggy Compton, he began research into some of the mechanisms by which pain may influence the immune system and the entire human organism. Since graduating in 2006 he has sought to apply his knowledge and research skills to helping patients. In addition to his continuing research and clinical activities, Griffis teaches nurse anesthesia students as well as nurse practitioner and B.S.N. students at the School of Nursing as an assistant clinical professor in UCLA’s Department of Anesthesiology.




Sarah L. Miller, M.S.N. ’05
While a student in the M.S.N. program at the school, Miller served as class president and president of the Graduate Students in Nursing Association. She is a member of the Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Honor Society and has achieved her national board certification as a critical care clinical nurse specialist and acute care nurse practitioner. Miller is currently working as an acute care nurse practitioner and clinical educator at Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys, Calif. She remains active in various nursing organizations throughout the Greater Los Angeles area. Miller recently completed her term as president of the UCLA School of Nursing Alumni Association, during which she was instrumental in the association’s revitalization. She is a past membership chair and current president of the California Association for Nurse Practitioners, West Los Angeles Chapter. Miller is also an associate clinical professor in the UCLA School of Nursing.