Fall 2025 Recent Graduate Achievement Award

 

Joshua Winowiecki, DNP ’24, had always had an affinity for science and helping others. He grew up around nurses and noticed the way they demonstrated these values, so a path toward nursing was an easy choice. After earning an associate degree from Henry Ford Community College in 2007, Winowiecki spent nearly two decades in various roles at Henry Ford Hospital in the surgical ICU as a bedside nurse, charge nurse, and unit educator and as a trauma coordinator and clinical quality facilitator.

 

Upon earning a BSN, he wanted to build on the momentum and pursue his dream of becoming a clinical nurse specialist. Winowiecki was drawn to the specialty where he would be able to implement changes that would support nurses and improve healthcare systems, while staying connected to bedside care and advanced practice. He began his CNS DNP at MSU, drawn to the opportunity to earn his doctorate directly after his BSN.

 

Since completing his DNP in 2024, Winowiecki has become an integral part of the CNS program at MSU. He is preparing the next generation of clinical nurse specialists as an assistant professor, while also serving as a co-faculty advisor to the MSU LGBTQ+ Allies Student Nurses Association. In addition, he is the inaugural director of the Center for Practice Transformation. The center bridges the gap between academia and clinical practice, providing resources to nurses and healthcare systems so they can deliver high-quality, evidence-based care.

 

In partnership with Henry Ford Health, he has launched a multi-site journal club initiative that brings nurses together across campuses to translate research into practice. He is also working collaboratively to strengthen a culture of evidence-based nursing and improve patient safety across clinical settings. In parallel, he is partnering with system leaders to evaluate the scope, equity and impact of Henry Ford’s virtual care programs.

 

In July, Winowiecki and collaborators launched NPATHS (Nursing Program for Advancing Training in Health and Social Determinants), a nationally recognized, National Institutes of Health-funded training program for nurse scientists to incorporate health equity and social determinants of health into their research. The inaugural cohort includes 14 scholars from across the U.S.

 

His scholarship also explores how artificial intelligence can ethically and equitably support nursing education. In addition to presenting strategies for advanced practice nurses to use AI effectively, he reviews manuscripts on AI in nursing, investigates its use in simulation and virtual reality environments, and studies how AI-enhanced teaching and learning strategies impact student outcomes.

 

Throughout all areas of Winowiecki’s nursing practice, inclusive and equitable nursing is at the forefront. Although it has only been a year since he graduated from his doctoral program at the College of Nursing, he continuously exemplifies what it means to be a Spartan Nurse and shows no signs of slowing down.