Owen W. Smith, Ph.D., RN, RPCV

Owen Smith grew up in Warren and State College, Pennsylvania. After volunteering in medical missions in Ecuador and serving as a Community Health Peace Corps Volunteer in Belize, he received the Gurtler Scholarship to study nursing at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing (JHSON). He earned his BSN at JHSON in 2014 and worked as an HIV Nurse Case Manager at Johns Hopkins and the Baltimore City Health Department for 6 years. In 2020 he began pursuing his PhD in Nursing at JHSON focused on interpersonal trauma, emotional support, and engagement in care among Spanish-speaking immigrant men living with HIV. In 2022, Owen became a Mental Health First Aid instructor and in 2023 began working part-time as a Mental Health RN at the Coatesville VA Medical Center in their residential mental health and substance use treatment program. 

As a PhD candidate at JHSON, Owen received a Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Individual Predoctoral Fellowship from the National Institute of Nursing Research and has worked as a Population and Public Health Nursing Clinical Lab Instructor and as an Isabel Hampton Robb Teaching Fellow focused on competency-based education. In June 2024, Owen presented at the Nurses Christian Fellowship International World Congress in Málaga, Spain on God’s purposes for vulnerability among nurses and the communities they care for. He also presented on vulnerability at the annual Nurses Christian Fellowship Refresh Retreat in York, PA in Spring 2025. Owen’s faith and personal experience with violent trauma have given him a passion for caring for individuals experiencing vulnerability and promoting posttraumatic growth (spiritual growth, personal strength, interpersonal closeness, new purpose, and appreciation for life) through trauma. 

Owen is joining the nursing faculty at Messiah University in Fall 2025, where he will teach courses in mental health, population health, and research. His background and nursing career have been shaped by a commitment to trauma-informed care, health equity, spiritual care, and cross-cultural engagement. He has extensive experience working with marginalized populations such as Spanish-speaking immigrants, people living with HIV, people who use drugs, military veterans, and people who have experienced trauma and sexual abuse. Owen brings to Messiah University a passion for sharing Christ’s love with those who are hurting and being part of God’s redemptive and reconciliatory work in the world. He looks forward to supporting students on their personal, spiritual, professional, and nursing journeys.

 Outside of the nursing profession, Owen loves hiking and spending time with his wife Maritza and their three children, Thiago, Matthias, and Eliana. Owen has traveled to 15 Latin American countries and enjoys playing guitar and piano and leading worship in Spanish at Iglesia Cristiana Willowdale Chapel in Kennette Square, PA.

• BS in Biology, Pennsylvania State University
• BSN, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing
• PhD Candidate, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, Expected Graduation: Spring 2026

Undergraduate nursing courses

Global health, immigrant health, Latino health, HIV care, men’s health, mental health, Trauma-Informed Care, qualitative research, vulnerability, health equity.