For Dr. Kristian Dambrino, Belmont's May 2025 commencement ceremony became even more meaningful when she received news that would shape the next two years of her career. As she stood in line to walk across the stage to receive her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree, she received her acceptance letter for a Fulbright Global Scholar Award.
The prestigious fellowship will fund Dambrino's research over the next two years as she works with Belmont partners Bangalore Baptist Hospital in Bengaluru, India and Kediri Baptist in Kediri, Indonesia. Her project focuses on reducing mental health stigma among nurses and nursing students through a Photovoice-enhanced intervention that uses participatory photography and workshops.
The Fulbright Program recognizes that these experiences lead to greater international co-publication, continued exchange and stronger cross-cultural communication skills, with benefits extending beyond individual recipients to raise the profile of their home institutions.
"Seconds before I walked across the stage to accept my diploma for my Doctor of Nursing Practice, I became a Fulbright Scholar. I bawled my eyes out," she said. "This was a bucket list thing for me, and doing global mental health teaching and research in India and Indonesia is something I've been working toward in between working on my scholarly project for DNP."
Dambrino credits Belmont with making the opportunity possible. "I have the Gordon E. Inman College of Nursing to thank for all of it. I wouldn't have even applied if Shelby Garner, PhD, and a Fulbright Scholar herself, had not mentored me. I said to her initially, 'oh I can't do that.'"
"Dr. Dambrino's selection as a Fulbright Scholar reflects the caliber of doctoral students we prepare in our DNP program," said Dr. Julie Honey, dean of the Gordon E. Inman College of Nursing. "Her innovative approach to addressing mental health stigma through culturally-adapted methodologies demonstrates the global impact our graduates are making. We're proud to see her work strengthen international nursing partnerships while building sustainable mental health capacity in communities that need it most."
Dambrino, an ANCC board-certified psychiatric nurse practitioner and founder of Dambrino Wellness, an evidence-based outpatient mental health clinic in Nashville, will make two trips to spend several months in each location. Her research addresses mental health stigma, which poses a significant barrier to effective mental health care, especially in low- and middle-income countries.
The project will involve local nurse educators and integrate guidelines from the respective Ministries of Health. By fostering collaboration and shared learning, Dambrino aims to strengthen mental health nursing capacity while building sustainable global partnerships.
"With this award, I will be doing teaching and research in India and Indonesia, spending time with my partners there at the host institutions, exploring mental health stigma and collaborative ways to strengthen nursing workforce capacity," Dambrino shared. "There's nothing more gratifying than a cultural exchange and mutual learning! I cannot wait to work alongside the psychiatrists and nurses in these two countries."
During her DNP program at Belmont, Dambrino studied the impact of high-deductible health insurance on mental health treatment through a retrospective analysis, exploring how cost transparency between providers and patients can mitigate financial decision-making for patients accessing psychiatric care.
Beyond her clinical work, Dambrino serves as adjunct faculty at Belmont’s College of Nursing and is a national speaker and psychopharmacology expert. She regularly delivers continuing medical education programs for Psych Congress, HMP Global and conferences across the United States. Her academic contributions include authoring accredited graduate nursing courses in psychopharmacology and guest lecturing at Vanderbilt University.
“Dr. Honey is equally as influential as Dr. Garner in my decision to not only pursue my DNP at Belmont and the Fulbright, but to continue as adjunct. As a big dreamer herself, she really promotes believing in infinite possibilities in the Belmont Nursing culture and has been intentional about prioritizing empowerment of faculty and students,” she noted. “I needed this kind of outside-of-the-box encouragement, when I never thought it would be possible myself initially.”
Dambrino also brings a unique creative perspective to her work. She is the creator of The Limbic Music, an R&B musical about neurotransmitters in mental health currently in pre-production. An accomplished vocalist fluent in French, she performs annual jazz concerts in France and has released three original jazz albums, one of which received the 2017 Mississippi Institute of Arts & Letters Award for Best Contemporary Music Composition.
Committed to service, she volunteers regularly with Rotary International, Project C.U.R.E., Habitat for Humanity, the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the Nashville International Center for Empowerment. She recently produced a sold-out benefit concert, Music City Without Borders, raising $20,000 for refugee resettlement in Tennessee.
Fulbright Scholar Awards are prestigious fellowships that offer scholars unique opportunities to teach and conduct research abroad, playing a critical role in U.S. public diplomacy. Notable awards received by alumni include 63 Nobel Prizes, 98 Pulitzer Prizes and 82 MacArthur Fellowships.
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