Programs

Gertrude N. Orakwue, DNP, APRN, CNP

Gertrude Orakwue is a Geriatric Nurse Practitioner at Olmsted Medical Center. She holds a Master's and Doctorate in Nursing from the University of Minnesota, specializing in Adult Gerontology. For the past five years, she has served as a primary care provider in nursing homes in Rochester and the surrounding areas. Additionally, she provides dementia and memory care consultations, palliative care consultations, fall prevention services, and medical cannabis certifications at the OMC clinic.

She is also a board member of the Chancellor Advisory Council at UMN and the Elder’s Network in Rochester. She is an active member of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, the American Geriatrics Society, and the Minnesota Gerontological Society.

Dr Andrea Leep Hunderfund

Andrea Leep Hunderfund, MD, MHPE is Associate Professor of Neurology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota where she is Medical Director of the Office for Applied Scholarship and Education Science, Associate Director of the Mayo Clinic Program in Professionalism and Values, and Chair of Staff and Patient Experience for the Department of Neurology.  Her scholarly work explores the relationship between learning environment factors and important educational outcomes related to professionalism & professional formation, sense of belonging, equity and inclusion, high-value care, and well-being.  She is also an active contributor to the Kern National Network for Flourishing in Medicine, which seeks to advance flourishing through the integration of caring, character, and practical wisdom.

Jake Wright, Ph.D.

Jake Wright, Ph.D. is a Distinguished University Teacher and Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Minnesota Rochester’s Center for Learning Innovation.  His research focuses on the ethical and pedagogical justifications for introductory teaching practices—especially practices that address systemic inequalities or go beyond the discipline’s signature pedagogy.  Dr. Wright has recently begun work on his first book on flourishing-focused pedagogy, tentatively titled No Small Matter: Teaching for Human Flourishing.  It argues we should place human flourishing at the center of our teaching because doing so improves student outcomes and, more importantly, returns higher education to its roots developing students so that they can flourish.  Dr. Wright is a 2023 recipient of the University of Minnesota’s Morse-Alumni Award for Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Education.

 Sherry S. Chesak, PhD, RN

Sherry Chesak, Ph.D., M.S., R.N. is the inaugural director of the Center for Flourishing Health Care Communities at the University of Minnesota. She is a Clinical Professor at the University and a Nurse Scientist at Mayo Clinic. Her program of research is centered on investigating factors that promote resilience and flourishing among individuals, teams, and organizations within healthcare. Dr. Chesak has trained in several awareness-based modalities and is certified as a Resilience Trainer by the Global Resilience and Inner Transformation Institute, as well as a mindfulness meditation teacher.