By the mid-’90s, Carola Bruflat had already earned her master’s degree, served as a nurse in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War, participated in a medical mission trip to China, and worked as a bedside nurse at both Inova Fairfax and Georgetown University hospitals.  

She was starting to question her next steps and had considered leaving the profession altogether when a conversation with her friend Judy Collins, RN, WHNP, who was then on the faculty at the VCU School of Nursing, changed her mind.

Bruflat decided to attend the School of Nursing for the postgraduate women’s health nurse practitioner certificate program and, during this time, she found a new professional passion. 

“I was bitten very early with the health policy bug. I like the idea of improving health policy to ensure better outcomes for women and children and their families,” said Bruflat, who was inspired by Collins and her work to educate Virginia lawmakers about women’s health and nursing issues at the Virginia General Assembly. Bruflat wanted to be part of that. “I was also interested in helping enhance women's health within the VCU community.” 

This passion redefined her calling in nursing and ultimately inspired her to invest in women’s health and health policy by creating the Carola Bruflat Advanced Practice Nursing Scholarship in 2021. The scholarship is for graduate nursing students pursuing careers in advanced practice nursing roles or specialties, with a preference for students interested in women’s health or in health policy. She continues to make annual gifts to grow the scholarship fund, which she hopes will help more nursing students take on women’s health as a clinical focus in their practice. 

“There are constant changes with women’s health these days and new research to be done,” Bruflat said. “We must make sure women have a healthy pregnancy for themselves and their babies while supporting the education of nurses who will care for them.”

One of the students the Bruflat Scholarship has helped tremendously is Jennifer Silva.

When Silva’s son was 9 months old, he was diagnosed with tuber sclerosis. As the years became filled with recurring visits to VCU Health, Silva experienced first-hand the care and dedication her son received from nurse practitioners, and that experience inspired her to switch careers from veterinary medicine to nursing.  

Armed with renewed determination, Silva finished nursing school at VCU School of Nursing and worked as a nurse for several years in Petersburg, Va., before returning to VCU to focus on women’s health care and advocacy.

“I’m not a traditional student. I’m older, I have older kids, but anybody can do it,” said Silva, a 2023-2024 recipient of the Carola Bruflat Advanced Practice Nursing Scholarship. “As a female and as the first person in my family to earn any kind of college degree, having a scholarship to support my education has been empowering.”  

For Silva, who graduated in May from the School of Nursing’s graduate program, the scholarship helped prevent further accumulation of student loans, especially those at the graduate level where the interest rates can be higher. 

“I already had student loans leftover from my bachelor’s degree,” Silva said, “and was not keen on adding more to the balance.” 

Prior to entering her graduate nursing program, Silva worked full-time, but once classes began, she shifted to part-time in order to balance her courseload and education with work and parenting. 

“Having the scholarship allowed me the flexibility to work whenever my schedule allowed and to complete my clinicals in a timely manner,” Silva said. “I didn’t have to take out student loans in my last year here, and it was nice not having to worry about paying for tuition or books.” 

Silva hopes to use her collective experience — from the difficult medical situations with her son, to her several years as a nurse, to her newly earned degree — to provide more women’s health care advocacy for smaller cities and towns like Hopewell, Va., where she now works.  

Silva’s future may include pursuing her doctorate degree and focusing on how to improve care for women.  

“My goal is to do what’s best for my patients to get them healthy and better,” she said.  

If you are interested in supporting the VCU School of Nursing, please contact Pam Lowe, the school’s senior director of development, at plowe@vcu.edu or 804-827-0020.