Meet the Newest Ph.D. Educators

The Medical University of South Carolina College of Nursing is celebrating a milestone with the addition of six new Ph.D.-prepared faculty members - the largest group of educators ever hired into the program at one time. Their arrival marks a significant investment in the future of nursing education, research and mentorship.

"This is a historic moment for our college," said Sarah Miller, Ph.D., RN, Assistant Dean of the Ph.D. program. "Bringing in this many Ph.D. faculty at once strengthens our ability to prepare nurse scientists, expand our research expertise, and ensure our students are learning from the very best in the field."

The new faculty members will enhance the college's teaching, research and leadership capacity, further advancing MUSC's mission to transform health care through excellence in nursing education and discovery.

Hannah Espeleta, Ph.D.

Dr. Espeleta provides clinical supervision, treatment services and training at MUSC to implement evidence-based mental health assessment and treatment for children and adults exposed to trauma who are enrolled in the Trauma Resilience and Recovery Program (TRRP).

Dr. Espeleta's research initiatives surround the development, evaluation and scaling of trauma-focused evidence-based interventions to improve access and quality of care. She is interested in the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based practices within youth-serving agencies, such as child welfare, to enhance the sustainment of practices and reach of interventions to families in need. The goal of her program of research is to improve health and service outcomes for children and families with histories of trauma by developing and testing novel approaches to improve implementation and scalability of evidence-based practices in community settings. She currently serves as a research co-mentor for predoctoral clinical interns.

Dr. Espeleta was a previous Doris Duke Fellow and trainee in the Interdisciplinary Training Program for Child Abuse and Neglect at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. She is actively involved in the Doris Duke Professional Network for Child Well-Being, serving as the Co-Chair of the Mentorship Committee and a Group Facilitator for the Qualitative Methods Affinity Group.

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Matthew Hayat, Ph.D.

Dr. Hayat has extensive experience as a collaborating biostatistician, with contributions to research across nursing, public health, medicine and other health disciplines. He has served as co-investigator on multiple federally funded projects from agencies including DOD, NIH, NIJ and PCORI and has led studies on the teaching and learning of biostatistics. Since 2014, he has been an associate editor for the Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education, an official publication of the American Statistical Association.

Michelle Mollica, Ph.D., MPH, RN, OCN

Dr. Mollica’s research focuses on the intersection of survivorship and health care delivery, including models of survivorship care, integration of oncology and primary care providers, transitions in care and the unique needs of specific survivor populations, including people living with advanced and metastatic cancers.

Dr. Mollica led the development of the National Standards for Cancer Survivorship Care, which provides a framework to health systems with essential policy, process and evaluation components to assess and improve the quality of survivorship care. The survivorship standards are currently being piloted within health systems nationally, with the ultimate goal of delivering comprehensive care for every cancer survivor.

Dr. Mollica earned her PhD from MUSC, MPH from the University at Buffalo, MS from Daemen University and BSN from Columbia University.

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Theresa Skojec, Ph.D., LPC

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Tania Von Visger, Ph.D., APRN, ATSF, PCCN-K

Dr. Von Visger's program of research encompasses the use of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) to reduce psychological distress and improve quality of life. Her teams have piloted Urban Zen Integrative Therapy (UZIT) and Mindfulness Meditation for Pulmonary Hypertension (MMPH) programs, which have demonstrated therapeutic benefits in reducing depressive symptoms and improving quality of life.

Dr. Von Visger has held leadership roles in the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, American Thoracic Society, Eastern Nursing Research Society and Pulmonary Hypertension Association. At MUSC, she advances large-scale MBI research to promote sustainable, non-drug approaches that enhance care and quality of life for patients and families affected by serious illness.

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Kheri Wandji, PhD, MSN, MBA, NEA-BC, PMHRN-BC, CNL, VHA-C

His work integrates community-engaged methods, implementation science frameworks and culturally responsive approaches to ensure that digital tools are both effective and sustainable in real-world settings.

Dr. Wandji earned his PhD in Population Health from the University of South Carolina, his MSN from Seton Hall University and his MBA from Western Kentucky University. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University as part of the NIH/Fogarty-funded Global Health Emerging Scholars program, where he led an implementation science project to improve health system communication in rural Uganda. He also trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) through the NIH/NIDA-funded SUD Ventures program in biomedical innovation and entrepreneurship.

His scholarship has been recognized through awards such as the SAMHSA Minority Fellowship, Jonas Nursing and Veterans Healthcare Scholarship and NIH/Fogarty Global Health Emerging Scholar award. He has authored multiple peer-reviewed publications on racial and gender disparities in SUD treatment, structural and socio-ecological barriers to care, global health system innovations and the impact of climate change on population mental health in Kampala, Uganda.