Dawn Bounds is an Assistant Professor and Director of the Centering Youth & Families for Empowerment and Resilience (CYFER) Lab in the Sue and Bill Gross School of Nursing at the University of California, Irvine.

Dr. Bounds’ research and clinical practice with adversity-impacted youth has resulted in high-impact scholarship focused on building equity through culturally relevant interventions for youth and their caregivers. As a translational scientist with over a decade of experience as a board-certified psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner working with marginalized youth in juvenile detention, homeless shelters, and school-based health, her novel interventions focus on innovatively transforming evidence-based approaches into accessible interventions while leveraging technology, family strengths, and community partnerships. Dr. Bounds is a trailblazer who is revolutionizing health care by mitigating risk and strengthening the resilience of adolescents and young adults.

Dr. Bounds received her BSN from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and her MSN and PhD from Rush University. She is also an alumnus of the American Nurses Association Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Minority Fellowship Program and the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics Fellowship at the University of Chicago.