UC Nursing doctoral student Nicole Holtz named Jonas Scholar

When a teenager is admitted to Cincinnati Children's inpatient psychiatric unit at the Lindner Center of Hope, fear and uncertainty often fill the room. In the middle of it, doing the quiet work of helping young patients and their families through crisis, is Nicole Holtz.

"I like to be able to be light in some of these children's and families' darkest moments," Holtz says of her work in crisis stabilization. "I have learned how to offer support and presence from a grounded standpoint," a skill she describes as difficult to put into words.

That steadiness, and her desire to teach it to the next generation of nurses, has earned Holtz a place among the country's promising doctoral nursing students. The 2020 Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) graduate of the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing and current Psychiatric-Mental Health Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) student student has been named one of 80 scholars in the 2026–2028 Jonas Scholar cohort through a national initiative of Jonas Philanthropies in partnership with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

Since 2008, the program has provided more than $27 million to more than 1,400 doctoral nursing scholars at 157 universities, supporting the next generation of nursing faculty, researchers and advanced practice nurses.

For Holtz, that mission aligns with the path she has already been building. Her career has moved through a range of experiences, from completing a psychology minor during her BSN program to pursuing a Master of Health Informatics alongside her DNP. She also worked in adolescent inpatient psychiatry at Cincinnati Children's Hospital College Hill, first as a student nurse and later as an RN after graduation. She later served as a senior clinical research coordinator in UC's College of Medicine, where she worked on large hemorrhagic stroke trials.

"It was an excellent, top-to-bottom experience," Holtz recalls of collecting the data that will become evidence for stroke care. "But once the studies were wrapping up, being in an office got me to realize I need to be back in it: in the practice, in the clinical setting."

So, while pursuing her DNP, she returned to Cincinnati Children's adolescent inpatient psychiatry, combining her interest in research and evidence-based practice with the direct patient care she had missed.

"Adolescence is a critical window in which timely, skilled, compassionate nursing care can shape the rest of a person's life," Holtz says.

Featured image: Nicole Holtz between her mentors Dr. Kate York and Dr. Carolyn Smith. / Photo provided.