Donna Sabella

Dr. Donna Sabella presently teaches in the graduate Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner program and formerly served as the Seedworks Endowed Associate Professor of Nursing and Social Justice at the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing. She has over 19 years of working in the anti-trafficking sector as a leader, educator, advocate, writer and counselor. She is a board-certified psychiatric/mental health nurse practitioner and has developed several programs to assist women recovering from the trauma of trafficking and exploitation including the Project Phoenix Program in the Philadelphia jail system, as well as Dawn’s Place.

Donna is a frequent presenter and published author on human trafficking and mental health. Her work has appeared in numerous publications including Springer’s Human Trafficking: A Global Emergency. She is a member of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA), and the American Correctional Association (ACA), and a founding and executive member of the Global Association of Human Trafficking Scholars (GAHTS). 

She holds a BA from Indiana University in Portuguese, a BSN from Thomas Jefferson University, an M.Ed. from Temple University in ESL, an MSN from Widener University, a post-master’s certificate from Penn’s School of Nursing, and a PhD from Penn’s Graduate School of Education. She speaks Portuguese, lived in Brazil, and has traveled and worked across the globe in anti-trafficking efforts.