Biography

Dr. Kerri Ellis is a nationally certified Acute Care Nurse Practitioner and Psychiatric–Mental Health Nurse Practitioner whose clinical and scholarly work focuses on improving mental health outcomes in complex and acute care settings. Her research interests include psychiatric deprescribing, forensic mental health, caregiver health and support, disaster and simulation-based nursing education, and interdisciplinary communication in critical care environments.

Dr. Ellis’s recent scholarship examines psychiatric deprescribing through narrative reviews and forensic case studies, with attention to patient safety and ethical practice. Her work also addresses rural–urban and regional disparities in caregiving experiences and caregiver health, learner perspectives on disaster simulation in nursing education, and culturally responsive health counseling and behavior change interventions among diverse populations.

She holds clinical appointments in the Critical Care Unit at UMass Memorial Medical Center, and maintains a private psychiatric practice. Dr. Ellis integrates her clinical expertise into teaching in the graduate Psychiatric–Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) program and undergraduate clinical immersion experiences, emphasizing applied learning and professional development.

Committed to global health education, Dr. Ellis regularly leads students on global health immersion experiences, most recently in Indonesia and Costa Rica. She is passionate about mentoring nursing students at all levels and advancing scholarship that bridges clinical practice, education, and population health.