Drawing on her extensive experience in both nursing education and in the special care needs of patients dealing with HIV and AIDS, Darcel Reyes is a clinical assistant professor of nursing at the Rutgers School of Nursing. She also serves as director for the HIV specialization track in the school’s advanced practice division.
Having served in her current positions since 2018, Dr. Reyes, a nurse practitioner, previously was chief clinical officer of the Rutgers Community Health Center from 2015 until 2017. She first joined the Rutgers faculty in 2014.
Dr. Reyes has more than 12 years’ experience treating people living with HIV. She was awarded the Rutgers Health Clinical Excellence Award in 2017 for that work, which has included development of a nurse champion program at Rutgers Community Health Center and establishment of a quality improvement program at that facility.
A leader in the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (the leading nursing organization responding to HIV/AIDS) as chair of its diversity committee from 2014 until 2018, Dr. Reyes also is a member of the International Nursing Network for HIV/AIDS Research and works with the Rutgers Interdisciplinary Center for HIV Research (RICHR).
Her PhD work at City University of New York focused on development of electronic health literacy for people living with HIV. She developed and tested an intervention to teach people living with HIV how to identify reliable HIV-related health information websites
Dr. Reyes has conducted research in HIV care, presented on HIV issues at numerous conferences, and published many articles on HIV care. She is the editor of NJ HIVLinks, a publication for primary care providers who treat people living with HIV in New Jersey.
Before coming to Rutgers, Dr. Reyes held various nursing and administrative positions in the New York City area at Brightpoint Health Primary Care Clinic, New York University Medical Center, Methodist Hospital, St Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital, St. Barnabas Hospital, and Westchester Medical Center.
In addition to her PhD in nursing, Dr. Reyes holds a master’s degree in nursing from Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing at Hunter College, a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the College of New Rochelle, a bachelor’s degree in health services administration from Lehman College, and an associate degree in applied science from Cochran School of Nursing.