I am drawn to this opportunity to innovate through storytelling during my graduate studies and contribute to Mia Funk’s mission to inspire future generations of students. As a registered nurse pursuing my PhD with a research focus in healthcare informatics, I have experience in a unique set of disciplines spanning across healthcare, technology, and business. Although I no longer practice clinically, my nursing identity remains at the core of each of my professional endeavors. In my other roles as a student leader at Penn, marketing intern at a healthcare technology startup called Florence Healthcare, and researcher, I continue to find myself translating information between disciplines, brainstorming solutions to problems, and asking questions to assess each professional situation I encounter, much as I would do at the bedside. I believe these experiences have helped me build the confidence to learn the language of new disciplines and approach people outside of nursing to learn more about how they think and how we could collaborate, which could serve as a foundation for podcast interviewing and production.

My background in nursing research and student leadership have also equipped me with foundational writing and interviewing skills, which I am delighted to build upon at The Creative Process. I have research experience from four different studies at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and Penn Medicine which led to two published academic papers in peer-reviewed journals. In addition to scientific writing, my doctoral research residency in informatics and nursing coursework have helped me develop my skills in grant-writing and prose. Working on interviews and podcasts enables me to challenge myself to learn a new medium and grow as a scholar. In terms of leadership, I currently serve on Penn Nursing’s faculty and student awards selection committee, as an alumni interviewer for Penn, and have experience in peer advising as well as undergraduate student leadership. All of these volunteer positions have been a rewarding way for me to advise and learn from a spectrum of people spanning new undergraduate students to endowed faculty members.
I am interested in growing my creative mind through the art of interviewing on a larger scale. Essentially, I see contributing to The Creative Process as an opportunity to inspire future generations of students and learn from creative thinkers and viewers.

Two of my published papers:

Situational Use of Child Restraint Systems and Carpooling Behaviors in Parents and Caregivers: 10.3390/ijerph15081788

Factors Associated with Cell Phone Use While Driving: A Survey of Parents and Caregivers of Children Ages 4-10 Years https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2018.06.003