Leading the way
Cleopatra Kum, PhD '22
Cleopatra Kum’s culture emphasizes caregiving, especially for elderly community members.
Kum, PhD, lived in Cameroon, Africa, until about a decade ago when she emigrated to the U.S. to earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She quickly saw an opportunity, or perhaps a necessity, for a nurse to build a better home health care model for older adults. So, she did.
“I did home health care nursing for other agencies, and I learned the people in charge were businesspeople and not nurses,” she says. “I wanted to create a family-centered model that worked for the good of the patient.” In 2016, Kum founded Family Support Care LLC, a Medicare-accredited home health agency that provides skilled and non-skilled, in-home nursing care to patients in Southwestern Ohio. The agency now employs 18 health care workers and hopes to expand. Rather than focus on the bottom line only, as she observed while working for other home health care providers, Kum’s agency strikes a balance between profit and people.
“Every member of the team understands that what matters is better outcomes for the patient and making sure patients get to the highest level of comfort in their homes,” she says.
Along with the typical hurdles to starting a business — securing financing, meeting legal obligations and understanding operational needs — as an immigrant, Kum also had to learn how U.S. systems function and build a personal network from the ground up. But her background is not a barrier. It is blessing, she says.
“It was a blessing because I’m from a culture of caregiving. We take care of our elders. We respect white hair. People age in place. And I brought that perspective to health care.”
Kum, who earned her PhD in 2022 from the University of Cincinnati and now serves as an assistant professor, hopes to build awareness around entrepreneurship in nursing and to health care as a career for immigrants and minorities.
Related Stories
CCM welcomes new violin faculty member Danbi Um
April 29, 2026
UC College-Conservatory of Music Dean Pete Jutras has announced the appointment of Danbi Um as CCM's new Assistant Professor of Violin. Her faculty appointment officially begins in August 2026. Praised by The Strad as an “utterly dazzling” artist, with “a marvelous show of superb technique” and “mesmerizing grace” (New York Classical Review), Um captivates audiences with her virtuosity, individual sound and interpretive sensitivity.
Finding purpose in the hardest moments
April 28, 2026
After nearly leaving nursing during the COVID-19 pandemic, Matt Depenbrock found renewed purpose in neonatal intensive care, leading him to develop Project HEALS—an innovative initiative aimed at improving NICU nurses’ confidence and competence in end-of-life care.
UC Clermont to launch redesigned neuroinclusive business degrees
April 28, 2026
Local 12’s “Good Morning Cincinnati” reported on UC Clermont College’s launch of redesigned business degree programs built with a neuroinclusive approach aimed at better supporting neurodivergent students.