Kimberly
Zemanek,
PhD, MEd
Associate Program Director
Texas A&M College of Nursing / Center of Excellence in Forensic Nursing
Kimberly Zemanek, PhD, MEd is the Associate Program Director for the Texas A&M Health Center of Excellence in Forensic Nursing. She plans, develops, and implements activities for the Texas Teleforensic Remote Access Center (Tex-TRAC) which provides expert care to sexual assault victims in rural and underserved communities in Texas. Additionally, Dr. Zemanek facilitates the ECHO-SAFE program that provides sexual assault forensic exam education to clinicians using Tex-TRAC. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Arlington, her master’s degree from the University of Texas at Tyler, and her doctoral degree from Texas A&M University.
Presenting at the Nexus Summit:
Texas has a large population, large geographical area (268,597), and many rural and medically underserved regions. Many Texas rural and underserved communities lack access to Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs) and medical forensic exams (MFEs). MFEs conducted by SANEs decrease risk of adverse mental health consequences to victims by providing high quality, patient-centered, and trauma-informed care [1,2]. Exams conducted by SANEs result in more effective evidence collection, greater admissibility of evidence in court, and greater likelihood cases proceed through the justice system [3-8].…