April Joy Ancheta

April J. Ancheta is a PhD Candidate at the Columbia University School of Nursing and an NIH/NINR Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Research Fellow. April’s research interests include bullying and weight-related health disparities among sexual and gender minority adolescents. April is particularly interested in the impacts of LGBTQ positive school climate and state-level policies on adolescent school experiences, using quasi-experimental design. In addition to her own research, April continuously works with her research advisor Dr. Tonda Hughes, PhD, RN, FAAN to examine mechanisms underlying physical health disparities and health behaviors among sexual minority women. She also works with Dr. Jean-Marie Bruzzese, her co-advisor, to develop and pilot test a school based health center intervention to improve sleep hygiene among urban adolescents.

April is a past Margaret E. Mahoney Fellow in Health Policy through the New York Academy of Medicine and is a current Predoctoral Fellow of Columbia Nursing’s Center for Sexual and Gender Minority Health Research and The Program for the Study of LGBT Health. Prior to coming to Columbia, April received her BSN from Rutgers University in New Jersey and has worked clinically in inpatient surgical care settings.