PhD, PMHNP-BC , Doctoral (Alumni)
Dawn Bounds, PhD, PMHNP-BC, earned her BSN from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and her MSN and PhD in Nursing Science from Rush University’s College of Nursing. Her dissertation, entitled The Complexities of the Demand Side of the Online Commercial Sex Industry, focused on unraveling complex issues related to the sexual exploitation of vulnerable people.
Dr. Bounds is an assistant professor in the Sue and Bill Gross School of Nursing at the University of California, Irvine. Her program of research is focused on the risk and resilience of youth. She has addressed gaps in both policy and practice related to youth homelessness, family functioning, commercial sexual exploitation/sex trafficking, and the sexual abuse to juvenile justice pipeline. Her current research focuses on leveraging wearable technology and neurofeedback to deliver interventions to adolescents with socially complex needs (i.e., adverse childhood experiences) and their caregivers.
Dr. Bounds is certified by the American Nurse's Credentialing Center (ANCC) as a Family Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. She has extensive experience with youth and their families in a variety of settings including the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center, youth homeless shelters, school-based health centers, inpatient psychiatry, intensive outpatient and partial hospitalization programs. Her clinical practice includes developing and delivering community based, trauma-informed mental health care to youth and their families. She was the first nurse at Rush University Medical Center to secure support from the Chicago Institute of Translational Medicine’s CTSA KL2 Scholar Program (NCATS).
National Advisory Committee
Dr. Bounds is an American Nurses Association/SAMHSA Minority Fellowship Program Alumna and National Advisory Committee Member, University of Chicago Maclean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics Fellow Graduate, former UCLA HIV-AIDS, Substance Use, and Trauma Training Program Scholar (NIDA), and an inaugural University of California, Irvine, Chancellor’s Inclusive Excellence Award Recipient.