Faculty & Staff Directory

My name is Rashid Shaibu and I am married with five children.  I am an immigrant from Ghana in West Africa, and I currently live in Columbus Ohio.  I was a Chartered Accountant Level 3 in Gahana till I immigrated to the USA in 2007. I am a Board-Certified Family Nurse Practitioner and I have a deep commitment to serving others and optimizing individuals' health and wellbeing.  I studied nursing at Otterbein University receiving a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) in 2015.  I received my Masters's of Science in Nursing (MSN) in 2019 at Ohio State University specializing in Family Practice. I recently received my post graduate Certification in Psychiatric Mental Health in Nursing at Northern Kentucky University in 2023. 

I have spent my entire career as a registered nurse at Ohio State Wexner Medical Center on the Orthopedic and General Medical Surgical unit floating to every unit including Step Down and Cardiac until 2020. I have been practicing as a Family Nurse Practitioner in a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) since 2019 as a full-time employee till the end of January 2023.  I changed to part time status to fulfill my responsibility as a full-time faculty here at the University of Rio Grande. Prior joining Rio as a faculty member, I taught one year at Mount Carmel College of Nursing as an adjunct faculty member teaching Pharmacology and Clinicals.

Dr. Tamara Felice Small is a nurse scientist and board-certified family nurse practitioner with over 20 years of experience in healthcare. She has worked in occupational health, urgent care, family practice, nephrology, ambulatory care, and home care, serving patients across the lifespan. Dr. Small's research focused on the health and safety of healthcare workers and preventing occupational hazards in the workplace. Her research has been published in several peer-reviewed journals.  She has contributed to the "Focus on Safety" column of the Journal of Home Healthcare Now. Dr. Small was the lead author of a recently published NIOSH science blog for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention titled, "Home Healthcare Workers: A Growing and Diverse Workforce at High Risk for Workplace Violence." Dr. Small serves as a council member for the National Occupational Research Agenda, and Traumatic Injury Prevention Council through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.   She is passionate about education and training, providing patients with safe, effective, and efficient healthcare services, and advancing the health and safety of healthcare workers.