UG Graduation 2026: Nurse First to Graduate with Dual-Degree in BSc. Nursing and Masters of Public Health

Danessa Blue-Smith, a registered nurse from Farm, East Bank Demerara (EBD), has every reason to be proud when she walks the University of Guyana Graduation stage on Tuesday, November 17, 2026, at the university’s Turkeyen Campus. She has achieved what seemed impossible – Ms Blue-Smith will be graduating with a double degree – a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing and a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree, becoming the first graduate of the seamless MPH programme.

The three-year programme allows nurses to pursue both degrees simultaneously. For Blue-Smith, completing it marks an important milestone in a journey shaped by an early desire to help others, more than a decade in healthcare and the determination to advance professionally while raising a family. “I feel honoured to be the first graduate of this programme. There were times I didn’t think I would make it, so to reach this point is a blessing,” she said.

Full coverageUniversity of Guyana Graduates Overcome Hardship to Earn Class of 2026 Degrees13 reports

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Her interest in healthcare began in her early childhood, following the death of her grandmother when she was in primary school. She remembers her family taking her grandmother, who was suffering from a chronic illness, to the hospital, from which her grandmother never returned home. “I always said I’m going to try my best to help people, so that they shouldn’t have to die from things that they could prevent,” she related. That desire led her into the nursing profession. She has since spent more than ten years in primary healthcare and is now the nurse in charge at the Agricola Health Centre, EBD.