AstraZeneca PhD Nursing Award

After I finished high school, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do next, but I knew that I wanted to go to University and I followed several of my close friends as they embarked on degrees in science. I completed two years of a Biological Sciences degree and while I was fascinated with what I was learning, particularly in classes such as genetics and virology, I wasn’t sure if I was in the right program. I serendipitously took a nursing course as an elective and was immediately drawn to the idea that I could continue to learn about biology, virology, genetics, and all that I loved about science and that I could use what I was learning to help people in a very tangible way. Upon graduation, I was fortunate to begin working in oncology as an undergraduate nursing student and knew that I had found my place.  It was a couple of years later when a patient said to me, on a particularly busy day, “You’re doubly blessed”. Initially, I wasn’t quite sure what he meant but he went on to explain, “You get to help people, at a time when it matters most and…you get paid for it.”. Doubly blessed. I don’t take for granted that I have a career that I love and that gives me back as much as I give to it.

I am so grateful to the Canadian Nurses Foundation and its supporters and incredibly honoured to receive the AstraZeneca PhD Nursing Award.