Meet Our Team
Our small but mighty team is made up of people from across the country, each bringing a unique set of skills, experience and passion for advancing reproductive justice and access. What binds us together is the idea that healthcare is a human right, including abortion care. We use our talents and pasion to build programs that provide students, nurses, midwives, and SRH allies with education and resources to become skilled care providers and social change agents.
Operations Team

Lina Buffington, PhD
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Christy Alisea
Chief Operations Officer (COO)

Alexia Lewin
Executive Assistant

Azero Alcala
Operations Director

Tracy Yassini
RHSC Grant Admin and Project Coordinator

Carolina Alicia
Communications Coordinator
Programs Team

Jace Anderson, MSN, RN
Director of Education

Rosie Laine, MPH
Student Engagement and Advocacy Manager

Sulianie Mertus
Research Assistant

Seynabou Niang, MPH
Director of Membership

Emily B.
Instructional Design Manager
Our Mission & Vision
We envision a world in which all people have access to just and dignified comprehensive healthcare.
Our mission is to provide students, nurses and midwives with education and resources to become skilled care providers and social change agents in sexual and reproductive health and justice.
But wait, How do we do this essential work within a system steeped in systemic racism, inequity, and hierarchy? How can we create a community that empowers our members and facilitates healing and well-being within these systems?
At NSRH we are working hard to create an active and engaged community that is reflective, not of the nursing field as it is presently, but of the diverse communities that nurses serve. We have identified ten core values that guide this work. While our organization has a rich history of grassroots nursing student organizing and activism, we are forging a new future for the organization that serves nursing professionals, midwives, and students.
While our focus is on nurses (LPN/LVNs, RNs, APRNs, Certified Midwives), and nursing students (ADN, BSN, DNP, LP/VN, MSN, and PhD), we also recognize how important it is for nurses to work in coalition with other providers. It is especially important for nurses committed to SRH to build power with other birthing professionals as a way of truly challenging the hierarchical structures within the profession that alienate people and make true access to comprehensive healthcare for all impossible.
We know that in order to achieve our vision, we must start within by continuously challenging the lack of diversity within this sector and within our own community. We embrace the challenge and look forward to seeing what we can all build together,JOIN US!
Our Values
Culture
We support the role of culturally rooted and alternative/holistic models of care, particularly as practices essential to the well-being of diasporic and indigenous communities, and people of color
Equity
Everyone has a fair opportunity to attain their full health potential regardless of race, class, gender, citizenship status, ability, creed, age, religion, sexual identity/expression, or geography. Quality, accessible healthcare is a human right.
Integrity
Our work is rooted in the trust of individuals, their communities, and the nurses and other healthcare providers who care for them. We honor and recognize the credibility and expertise of providers at all levels.
Intersectionality
Oppression is systemic and intersected, and our approach to healthcare is rooted in affirming the various identities and experiences of patients and providers. We collectively challenge racism, ageism, classism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, white supremacy, misogyny, sexism, and all oppressive structures and systems.
Pleasure
Pleasure is a form of care and a radical act in the fight for sexual and reproductive freedom and justice. We believe in centering consensual sex as a form of pleasure.
Power
Nursing and social justice are inherently linked. Therefore, it is the role of nurses and other healthcare providers to challenge power structures and systems that inhibit the health and wellness of their communities. This includes transforming relationships of power inter-professionally and between providers and patients.
Safety
Criminalization and policing of women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ people in ways that interfere with and obstruct bodily autonomy, humanity, and life is inhumane and a threat to our communities. We support healthcare provision free from the obstruction of law enforcement.
Science
Patients and their providers should be empowered with evidence-based, comprehensive sexual and reproductive health education and information.
Trust
Patients should be trusted to know what is best for their body and their family and are deserving of access to the services and care that support those choices.
Wellness
The spectrum of sexual and reproductive health care does not center on the events of conception and pregnancy alone, nor is it limited to interactions with a healthcare provider. We believe in compassionate care that supports the whole person, mentally and physically, throughout their lifespan
Our 3-Pronged Workforce Development Strategy
NSRH is uniquely positioned to contribute to the development of the sexual and reproductive health care workforce, of which nurses are a critical component. While most organizations are focused on physicians, we have crafted a clear pathway to SRH for nurses using our 3-pronged worksorce development strategy.
- Advocacy
- Education
- Professional Development
Our Chapter Support, free student membership, and the Karen Edlund Future Nurse Leaders Fellowship all serve as entry points for nursing students to begin their career journey. After graduation, students can take advantage of another free year of membership before becoming paid professional members. As professional members they have access to our Online Institute, where they can continue their SRH education and get CE Hours that they can apply towards their licensure. Professional nurses can also apply for our Training in Abortion Care Residency where they can get clinical training in an abortion care facility. Those who want to gain further experience working in an abortion care facility can then apply to become a part of our Abortion Nursing Corps, which will allow them to use their training in support of abortion clinics facing nurse shortages.

Who We Serve
NSRH supports all nursing professionals and nursing students. Our scope includes LPN/LVNs, RNs, APRNs, Certified Midwives, and nursing faculty and students (including RN, APRN, LPN, and Midwifery, and MSN programs).
Our History
The history of Nurses for Sexual and Reproductive Health is rooted in student organizing efforts at two nursing schools: Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU) in Portland and Winona State University in Minnesota. Nursing Students for Reproductive Health and Justice (NSRHJ) was founded at OHSU in 2005 and Nursing Students for Choice (NSFC) was founded at Winona State University in 2006. Both organizations were focused on filling critical gaps in their nursing curricula and promoting pro-choice issues on campus. In 2007 these two organizations joined forces to create a national network of student-led chapters called, Nursing Students for Choice (NSFC). As the organization continued to evolve, the focus was broadened to address issues of sexual and reproductive health and so the organization became Nursing Students for Sexual and Reproductive Health (NSSRH) in 2017.
For 10 years, the organization provided critical financial, coaching, and educational support to dozens of nursing student-led chapters at colleges and universities across the country participating in a variety of organizing and advocacy efforts. Chapters have organized: educational workshops, multi-week seminars, journal and book clubs, movie screenings, and clinical rotations. Students in our network have written op-eds and participated in campaigns to challenge local, state and national policy. They have successfully pushed for curriculum reform in their schools, and some even gained leadership positions in nationally recognized organizations. In addition to providing funding and coaching support to our chapters, we have also created educational resources, provided scholarships for students to educational conferences, and organized an annual activist conference to foster community-building and learning across the network.
This journey would not have been possible without ongoing collaborations across the pro-choice movement and beyond. Early partnerships were made with If/When/How, NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota, Provide, and other student organizing groups such as Medical Students for Choice. Over the years, these partnerships expanded and deepened, and efforts were made to re-frame the organization to incorporate full-spectrum sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice. In 2017, NSSRH proudly merged with Reproductive Health in Nursing (RhN), catalyzing a new effort to incorporate nursing professionals, faculty and scholars into the fold. In 2018, a new organization emerged, Nurses for Sexual and Reproductive Health (NSRH).
Our Board
The Board of Nurses for Sexual and Reproductive Health (NSRH) is comprised of talented and skilled reproductive health professionals from throughout the nation.
Executive Committee
Jacki Witt JD, MSN, WHNP-BC, FAANP
Chair
University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Nursing and Health Studies
Chantel Neece DNP, MSNED, MBA
Vice Chair
Virginia Premier Health Plan
June Gupta MSN, WHNP-BC
Treasurer
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Ellen Solis DNP, CNM, FACNM
Secretary
Quilted Health; The University of Washington
Board Members
Lindsey English Hull RN, JD
Morgan Nuzzo MSN, CNM
Co-founder, Partners in Abortion Care
Joely Pritzker MS, FNP-C
Family Nurse Practitioner
Amber Rose Washington DNP, APRN, FNP-C
Cabarrus Rowan Community Health Center, North Carolina
Colette Williams RN
BS in Biology from CUNY Lehman College, BS in Nursing from the University of Pennsylvania
Founding Board
Erika Staub RN, PHN
Jacqui Quetal RN, FNP-C
Rebecca McIntyre RN, PHN
Tara Cardinal MN, CNM, ARNP