Joy Fernandez de Naryan, D.N.P., is a champion for compassionate, patient-centered care for vulnerable populations, and Adaline Buerck, Ph.D., is dedicated to improving water quality at home and abroad. In recognition of their inspiring work, these Mercer University faculty members were chosen for Georgia Trend’s 2026 40 Under 40 list.
The annual feature was published in the magazine’s October issue, and a photo of Fernandez de Narayan, clinical assistant professor in the College of Nursing, graces the cover.
Nursing professor brings compassionate care to the streets
Fernandez de Narayan completed her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Kennesaw State University, Master of Science in Nursing as a family nurse practitioner at Emory University, and Doctor of Nursing Practice at Chamberlain University.
She started her career as a hospital nurse practitioner and in 2013 went to work for Mercy Care Atlanta, a nonprofit community health center that provides medical, dental and social services to people in need. The following year, she joined the center’s street medicine program, which brings care directly to people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, as a primary care provider and then its manager. Fernandez de Narayan said the program targets people who are not receiving services elsewhere, and providers work to build their trust by being present.
“I like these patients. No one else is going to go do it. I have the willingness, I enjoy it, and I think they deserve it,” she said. “I like seeing people get better and alleviating suffering. I hold a very firm belief that we all have inherent dignity. Sometimes with external pressures and sometimes internally, we lose sight of that, and it gets buried. I find great pleasure in digging it out and then reflecting that back to people that I work with.”
Fernandez de Narayan has always liked teaching and earned her D.N.P. with the goal of one day becoming a professor. In January, she became a faculty member in Mercer’s College of Nursing. Fernandez de Narayan said she’s still finding her niche in the classes she teaches, but she’s currently leading courses in adult primary care, public health and policy, and clinicals.
Street medicine has been a major focus of her career, and she continues to see patients in the clinic at Mercy Care once a week. Recently, she has also turned her attention to the integration of HIV prevention, testing and treatment into primary care.
“It’s important to me to figure out ways to do the most good and take the best care of people that we can,” she said. “I want the patients I see to get good care and be cared for well. But the other side of it is making sure it’s not just me and my patients. How do we make sure that patients broadly have the opportunity to get good, compassionate care?”
So in her teaching, she works to change language in educational materials from disease-focused to patient-focused so that care is non-stigmatizing.
Outside her nursing work, Fernandez de Narayan and her husband own a farm with poultry and goats and founded a nonprofit called Traveler’s Respite Family Farm, whose mission is to provide “Food for the hungry. Rest for the weary.” They donate eggs to a church food ministry; put together welcome kits with homemade lip balm, goat milk soap and lotion for a local family shelter; and offer tours, field trips, retreats and parties at their farm when they can.
Engineering professor focuses on clean water
Buerck, assistant professor of environmental and civil engineering and director of Mercer’s Cecil Day Family Center for International Groundwater Innovation, earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from Saint Louis University and her doctorate in civil engineering from the University of South Florida.
She joined Mercer’s faculty in 2022 and has been involved in a number of water quality initiatives and outreach projects since then.
“I love getting to learn about other regions and cultures and find locally accepted ways to help improve water quality and decrease exposure to harmful chemicals in the environment to protect health,” Buerck said.
Buerck’s primary research focus area at Mercer is the mitigation of heavy metals in water and consumer products. She has traveled with Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry Adam Kiefer, Ph.D., to Belize and Kenya to check paint samples for lead and teach local representatives a low-cost method to test for lead in paint. This summer, Buerck also did water testing while in Kenya, with goals to expand that initiative in the future, and ran a lead paint study in India with Kiefer.
She has also been involved in water testing and infrastructure work for the Mercer On Mission program in the Dominican Republic with Associate Professor of Environmental and Civil Engineering Natalia Cardelino, Ph.D. Every summer, the Mercer team constructs clean water systems for rural communities. In addition to building a water tank, two wells were drilled and a solar power pump system was installed this year. She and Cardelino recently received another grant from Jammin4Water in support of this work.
In addition, Buerck has teamed up with Sarah Bauer, Ph.D., assistant professor of environmental and civil engineering, for outreach projects at home. They received a $5,000 grant from the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors Foundation to lead a hydroponics and environmental engineering project this fall at Roberts Academy at Mercer University, a school in Macon for dyslexic students.
Since 2024, the pair has hosted a dozen one-day STEM workshops for middle schoolers as part of their Society of Women Engineers: Engineers in Training (SWEET) program. An upcoming session on Oct. 24 expands the program to high school participants. Buerck also started an American Water Works Association student chapter at Mercer, the first student chapter in Georgia.
“I feel really honored. I think it speaks to the great mentors that I’ve had,” said Buerck of her inclusion on the Georgia Trend 40 Under 40 list. She was also chosen for the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists’ 40 Under 40 recognition in 2025.
