Originally from Rochester, New York, I always knew I was interested in health care. After receiving great care from the nursing staff during a stay in the hospital in high school, I became really interested in nursing.
I received my BSN and master’s in nursing education from Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York, and have certification in emergency nursing as well as nursing education. I’ve been a registered nurse since 2013, with my clinical background being in cardiac and emergency nursing. I started working as a nurse educator in 2017 in upstate New York and moved to Raleigh in December 2019 where I continued to work as a nurse educator at a community college. My research interests during my master’s program were focused on self-directed learning in nursing students.
After I moved to North Carolina, I knew I wanted to start a PhD Program. I was very interested in Duke School of Nursing because of its great reputation, but after speaking with the faculty members and current students, I also appreciated how supportive and welcoming the environment is.
I would love to continue to teach at the university level and am interested in educational research, specifically on how the COVID-19 pandemic impacts college students. I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to become a nurse scientist and hope to make a positive impact on the field of nursing as whole.