10/02/2024

Dr. Lara Wilken, DNP, RN

Assistant Clinical Professor, Bowling Green State University

Lara Wilken is a proud graduate of Bowling Green State University. She is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Nursing and Coordinator of the Bowling Green State University online RN to BSN program. She earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) in 2020 with a focus on healthcare and human trafficking. Her background in nursing is primarily medical-surgical oncology, with experience in public school nursing and SANE nursing (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner). Lara has a great passion for educating healthcare providers on the assessment and identification of those involved in the life of human trafficking. Lara has spent the last ten years traveling the northwest region of Ohio raising awareness in a variety of health care and community settings. Lara created the human trafficking policy for Firelands Regional Medical Center and is chair of the Ohio Attorney General’s HTI Human Trafficking Public Awareness Subcommittee. She serves on the Board of Directors of Eyes Open International and the Erie County Safe Harbour Domestic Violence Shelter. Lara helps run and is a co-founder of the Erie County Jail Women’s Empowerment Group and Seeds of Empowerment, Erie County Anti-Human Trafficking Coalition. Lara’s mission is to ensure health care providers of all disciplines receive education that is not only evidence-based, but also survivor and trauma-informed. She has also most recently co-founded the BGSU Labor Trafficking Education and Research Initiative in her continued commitment to public good.