The U.S. Department of Health Resources and Services Administration has awarded $1.2 million to the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing to create the Georgia Forensic Nursing Network (GFNN). Once established, the GFNN will work with partners across the state to increase the number of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs) in Georgia.

Associate Professor, Trisha Sheridan, DNP, WHNP-BC, SANE-A, SANE-P, FAANP leads the effort, which includes providing SANE training and certification opportunities to 140 nurses over the next three years.

The Georgia Forensic Nursing Network’s mission is to engage academic-practice partnerships and stakeholders in a sustainable community of forensic nursing practice throughout Georgia and improving healthcare to survivors of sexual violence. The GFN Network will offer a variety of didactic and clinical training opportunities that include the only IAFN approved clinical skills training in Georgia through the school’s, Emory Nursing Experience.

Sheridan currently serves as the specialty coordinator of the women’s health /gender related nurse practitioner program. She is board certified as a nurse practitioner and sexual assault nurse examiner. She has become a nationally-known speaker on topics such as elder abuse, human trafficking, and forensic nursing.

According to its website, “The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary federal agency responsible for improving access to health care and enhancing health systems of care for the tens of millions of people who are geographically isolated and/or economically or medically vulnerable.”