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Leah FitzGerald, RN, FNP-C, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Nursing at the UCLA School of Nursing. Dr. FitzGerald is board certified by the American Nurses Credentialing Center as a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP). Dr. FitzGerald has 23 years of clinical research experience. She completed post-doctoral training at the UCLA Norman Cousins Center in psychoneuroimmunology, providing a strong foundation for Biobehavioral Nursing research, recognizing the benefits and risks of preventive health behaviors and the complexity underlying behavioral change. As an educator, clinician and scientist, she has the tools to make observations about the nature and progression of health/disease that stimulates basic investigation. Dr. FitzGerald recently completed curriculum development and a subsequent research study translating oral health theory into clinical practice with master level nursing students and is familiar with the proposed methodology. This foundation provides the ability to support the expertise and experience needed to implement this proposed project.