Dr. Ana Barajas is a board-certified acute care nurse practitioner and clinical nurse specialist, earning her Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctor of Nursing Practice from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2003, 2005 and 2021. Her scholarly project focused on improving the management of patients who undergo the placement of a retrievable inferior vena cava (IVC) filter under the care of the interventional radiology (IR) service. Her scholarly project findings were published in the Journal of Radiology Nursing, March 2022 https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1evyx5VYVEpZus

Dr. Barajas is currently a faculty member at the Keck School of Medicine (KSOM) and after obtaining her DNP, she was further promoted to Assistant Clinical Professor of Radiology, one of the first nurse practitioners to obtain this title within KSOM. She is Co-chair of the Advance Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) committee at her institution and works collaboratively with her fellow APRNs to further define and expand their roles. Working out of both Keck-USC Hospital and the Norris Cancer Center, she assists her fellow physicians in the direct care of patients undergoing image guided procedures. She independently performs ultrasound-guided procedures and trains radiology residents to perform these procedures as well. She has developed new hospital standardized procedure for NPs, such as ultrasound guided thoracentesis, expanding the NPs’ scope of practice within her institution. As the only nurse practitioner in the department of radiology, she is actively creating a division of advance practice providers (APPs) within radiology, helping to pave the way for other APPs to join this specialty.

As a three-time UCLA School of Nursing alumna, Dr. Barajas continues to give back to the school, dedicating her expertise and time serving as a clinical preceptor to UCLA School of Nursing students.

Dr. Barajas was recently honored at the UCLA School of Nursing DNP Graduates' Celebration event for publication of her DNP Scholarly Project.