Ancer Leal honored with Neuroscience Research Center award

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) student Andrea Ancer Leal, BSN, RN, LMSW, has become the first Cizik School of Nursing student to receive the Graduate Student Brain Awareness Outreach Award from the Neurosciences Research Center at McGovern Medical School.

The awards have been granted each year since 2012 and are open to all University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) graduate students who have exhibited exceptional interest and effort in brain awareness and neuroscience outreach activities.

Ancer Leal is both a student and part-time employee of Cizik School of Nursing, working as a Research Coordinator II in the lab of Associate Professor Jennifer Beauchamp, PhD, RN. As part of the team that developed the RAPIDO^© acronym for Spanish-language stroke awareness, Ancer Leal virtually delivered a well-received oral presentation at the International Stroke Conference in March 2021.

A PARTNERS Scholar, Ancer Leal has received several scholarships and awards. She earned her Bachelor of Nursing Science from Cizik School of Nursing in 2019 and is also working as clinical nurse at Ben Taub Hospital while pursuing her DNP. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Sam Houston State University and a master’s in social work from the University of Houston. She has six years of experience as a social worker and pursued a PhD from UTHealth School of Public Health before switching her focus to nursing.

The Neurosciences Research Center has also named its 2021 winners of the Distinguished Medical Student in Neurosciences Award – Hannah Uhlig-Reche and Vijay Dharmaraj.