Bridgette Brawner

Bridgette M. (Brawner) Rice is a nurse researcher and professor at Villanova University's M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing where she is the Richard and Marianne Kreider Endowed Professor in Nursing for Vulnerable Populations. She is known for her work on interventions to promote health equity in marginalized populations, with particular emphasis on HIV/STI prevention, mental health promotion, and mitigating negative neighborhood-level influences on health and well-being.

Education and career
Brawner received her BSN from Villanova University in 2003. She went on to the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing where she received an MSN in 2005 and a PhD in nursing in 2009. She received an MDiv from the Palmer Theological Seminary of Eastern University in 2017.

Brawner served as instructor, assistant professor and ultimately tenured associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Nursing. In 2021, she moved to Villanova University and was named the Richard and Marianne Kreider Endowed Professor in Nursing for Vulnerable Populations in January 2022.

Research
Her research utilizes novel mixed methods approaches, such as GIS mapping and community ethnography to address how social and structural factors shape health outcomes.

Awards and honors
In 2015, Brawner received the Protégée Award from the Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research. She received the International Society of Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurses Diversity and Equity Award in 2021.