Biography
Vanessa Rodriguez is a Registered Nurse and Family Nurse Practitioner whose healthcare focus is community health. She has been working with the underserved population of Orange County, California for the last 8 years. Her expertise is medically complex patients with chronic diseases. She serves as a clinician at UCI Health, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), one of oldest FQHC’s in Orange County. Here, was director of Group Medical Visits for several years. Within this program, Vanessa and the Population Health Team helped to improve diabetic care and address social determinants of health for patients within her clinical site. Community Health is a passion for Vanessa. She finds joy in her work when patients bring other family members to join in on healthy lifestyle efforts, and to be seen for preventative care measures. She enjoys fostering a culturally sensitive medical environment to empower patients. Being a first-generation Latina, she understands the barriers her own parents and grandparents had to overcome to receive appropriate care. Her experience as a registered nurse was in Northern California where she worked caring for patients in Oakland, San Francisco, and Richmond, California. She joined UCI School of Nursing in 2017 and is currently teaching in the DNP-FNP Program and BSN Program. In addition, she teaches students clinically at the FQHC she serves. She enjoys fostering a culturally sensitive medical environment to empower patients. She is currently working on obtaining her doctorate degree at UCSF School of Nursing.
Research Interests
Community Health, Diabetes, disease prevention and chronic disease management, cultural approach to patient care, patient-centered care with shared-decision making to empower patients
Education
MEPN, Samuel Merritt University
BA, California State University, Long Beach
Honors and Awards
- ARIISE Award Nomination 2022, 2021
- UCI Health Nurse Excellence Nomination 2022, 2019
- Plexus Magazine, 2022 & 2017
