Ms. Asante-Nketiah is a predoctoral fellow in the Program for Integrative Medicine (PIM) T32 at UNC-Chapel Hill. Her research centers on advancing integrative medicine for chronic pain through implementation science approaches, with a focus on group medical visits and related care models that promote health equity and improve access for underserved populations.
She is interested in how integrative approaches influence pain-related outcomes, patient self-efficacy, and patterns of healthcare service utilization. Drawing on her dual expertise in nursing and public health, she has led the coordination of complex, multi-site NIH-funded clinical trials focused on pain, trauma, and recovery. Her scholarly work integrates implementation science, health services research, and nursing Symptom Science to examine both system-level and biologic dimensions of chronic pain treatment.
She is a co-author of Baseline characteristics of participants in the Biomarkers for Evaluating Spine Treatments (BEST) clinical trial: A sequential multiple-assignment randomized trial for chronic low back pain, published in Pain Medicine, and has presented at the American Public Health Association (APHA) on “Escalating Tramadol Use Disorder in Ghana” and “Recruitment and Implementation Experiences from the UNC BEST Trial Study Site.”
She currently serves as a Graduate Research Assistant with the MAGIC Implementation Program and contributes to translational pain research through the BEST–Immune Profiles of phEnotype and Response (BESTIER) study and cytokine immunoassay analyses examining immune biomarker signatures in chronic low back pain with the UNC SOM-Anesthesiology Department. She is mentored by Drs. Isabel Roth, DrPH, MS; Cheryl Giscombe, PhD, RN, PMHNP-BC, FAAN, FABMR; Matthew Mauck, MD, PhD; Keturah Faurot, PhD; Susan Gaylord, PhD; and Karen McKinnon, PhD. Bernice is a Student Fellow and Treasurer-elect of APHA’s Integrative, Complementary, and Traditional Health Practices Section, a member of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Graduate Nursing Student Academy (AACN-GNSA), and a recipient of the Diane K. Kjervik Endowed Graduate Scholarship.
