Meet The Team

DNP Fonju has an admirable and extensive career in psychiatry serving populations with mental illness including Child and Adolescents, Mood and Thought related disorders, Schizophrenias, and individuals with Substance use and co-occurring related disorders. DNP Fonju completed a quality improvement project on screening brief prevention and referral to treatment along with warm hand offs to improve participation in follow up substance use disorder treatment on inpatient acute care stabilization units. She successfully won a competitive grant funding for her doctorate quality improvement project from the Health Resource and Services Administration – Opioid workforce expansion program. Findings reinforced on the important need to screen for substance use, intervene when possible, and refer to treatment as a strategy to prevent dependence use patterns.

However, DNP Fonju’s contribution to the field of Psychiatry extends beyond her innovative quality improvement project and academic contribution in teaching and mentoring a new generation of future nurse practitioners. Her clinical expertise spans the areas of first episode psychosis, schizophrenia related disorders, motor disorders, antipsychotic-induced side effects, clozapine treatment and long-acting injectable medications. She takes time when working with patients, understanding the need for different methods of care and communication for individuals from diverse backgrounds and differing treatment needs. She volunteers much of her time to programs focused on cultural diversity, educating others on the importance of cultural inclusion within psychiatry and providing mentorship to future nurse practitioners.

DNP Fonju also excels as a psychiatric hospital attending provider at Sheppard Pratt Health System. She currently provides service to both the Child – Adolescent – and Adult Service Lines at the Towson and the Baltimore/ Washington campuses. She brings extensive clinical expertise working on acute stabilization inpatient units, child- adolescent and Adult Partial Hospitalization Programs, and urgent care crises centers that reflect her values and contributions to psychiatry and the community at large to meet a need.

DNP Fonju earned her doctorate degree in nursing practice from the University of South Alabama and as well a Masters degree in Nursing from the University of Maryland in Baltimore – the Founding campus, which has allowed her to combine academia with her finely honed clinical skills working with renowned inpatient hospital psychiatrists, service chiefs, and medical directors to create both efficient and effective treatment modalities to meet patient needs. The team at LikeMinds Behavioral establishes a treatment plan that eliminates barriers to mental health across populations and over the continent for each individual in the United States, actively incorporating compassion and service into their values and working mission.