Meet the 2021 UTHealthLeads Cizik School of Nursing fellows
Editor's note: This is one article in a series highlighting the students participating in UTHealthLeads.
UTHealthLeadsis a one-year student fellowship program to develop future leaders in health care.
In the program, UTHealth Houston students learn how to develop self-awareness, increase their leadership confidence, lead others, and effectively influence systems.
A total of 24 UTHealth Houston students — four students from each school — make up this year’s cohort. They will be provided opportunities to network with leaders, develop fundamental skills, and commit to actions to continue their growth.
Meet the 2021-22 UTHealthLeadsfellows at Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth Houston:
Lauren Carlson
Carlson grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and received her BSN from the University of Wyoming in 2018. She and her husband live in Magnolia with their pug, Bugs. She enjoys traveling to see family, staying active, and exploring Houston.
What brought you to nursing?
“I have always had a heart for helping others and a love for learning. When I was a freshman in high school, my grandfather passed away after a battle with heart failure — I will never forget the impact nurses had on my family during that time. After this experience, I decided to pursue a career in nursing and it has been one of the best decisions I have ever made.”
What are you hoping to gain from this program?
“One of the best parts of health care is the collaboration of interdisciplinary care, and UTHealthLeadsoffers the opportunity to create these connections with other professionals. I am excited to continue to challenge myself, grow in my leadership skills, and learn from those with advanced experience and knowledge.”
您希望在10年后去哪里？
“In 10 years, I hope to be a practitioner in a family or pediatrics clinic providing care at the primary, preventive level. Although I am still deciding my best fit within specialties, I have always loved cardiovascular nursing and can see myself working with this patient population. I also have a goal to return to school for my DNP during this time.”
Kristi Keen
Keen is a wife, mother, flutist, and nursing student. She graduated with a Bachelor of Music in 2005 and a Master of Music degree in 2009. She has been performing with the Rapides Symphony Orchestra and Lake Charles Symphony Orchestra for nearly 20 years. She became a birth doula and childbirth educator in 2011 and has assisted over 100 Houston families as they welcomed their babies into the world.
What brought you to nursing?
“I felt inspired by the amazing labor and delivery nurses I had the privilege of working alongside during my work as a birth doula. I saw what a difference an attentive and caring nurse could make in my clients’ birth experiences. Because most people are unable to have a birth doula accompany them during childbirth, I recognized I could help more people have positive birth experiences as a labor and delivery nurse that I could as a doula.”
What are you hoping to gain from this program?
“I hope to learn how to communicate with my peers as well as with those who have influence over hospital policies. I would like to be able to present research to those who can enact policies that would assist families in having more positive birth experiences. I have heard during my studies that nurses are expected to help their patients by advocating for safe practices, especially when it comes to medication safety. I hope this program can help me advocate for patients with confidence.”
您希望在10年后去哪里？
“Many of my clients have asked me if I want to be a midwife one day. I felt called to birth work as a doula, and I felt called to pursue nursing. I suspect that it is only a matter of time that I will feel called to midwifery. If I do not feel the call to midwifery within the next 10 years, then I hope I am working with families as a labor and delivery nurse. I also hope I am still performing in concerts, just as I have been for the past 20 years.”
Nataliya Romanyukha
Romanyukha出生和成长在乌克兰和冷杉t came to the United States in 1998 as a foreign exchange student. She earned a bachelor’s degree in economic crime investigation from Hilbert College in Hamburg, New York. Her professional career has been mostly in the field of oil and gas. She is currently pursuing another bachelor’s degree in nursing.
What brought you to nursing?
“我是一个珍贵女孩的母亲，他患有非常罕见的遗传神经肌肉综合征。我和我的女儿在NICU度过了71天，这是我对医学和护理扎根的钦佩。我对自己的生活进行了深刻的重新评估，这使我改变了这一职业变化。”
What are you hoping to gain from this program?
“UTHealthLeads提供了一个很好的机会，可以更多地了解领导力，提高我的人际交往能力，并获得新的能力，并成为更好的医疗保健专业人员。我想提及约翰·昆西·亚当斯（John Quincy Adams）的名言：“如果您的行为激发了他人的梦想，学习更多，做更多的事情并变得更多，那么您是领导者。”每个领导者都需要他们的工具箱来实现这一目标，这就是Uthealth的地方Leadscomes in.”
您希望在10年后去哪里？
“我希望能在Neuro ICU担任护士，获得我的博士学位，并参与神经科学领域的研究。beplay苹果手机能用吗我也有兴趣加入学术界和教授护理课程。”
Cassandra Twinning
Twining is going into her third semester at Cizik School of Nursing in pursuit of a Bachelor of Science in nursing. She is from Dripping Springs, Texas. She has a corgi named Hashbrown and a mutt she rescued recently named Sprout.
What brought you to nursing?
“Growing up on a farm, I had a lot of experience with raising and caring for livestock. If you have experience with animals, you know they are always getting hurt. I was always right there with my dad helping him take care of our animals and tending to their wounds and was never bothered by any of the ‘gross’medical things. As I got older, I knew that medicine was going to be the place for me. I was fascinated by the body and how it works, I loved the fast-paced nature of the profession, and like a lot of you I’m sure more than anything, I love helping people. Nursing truly is the perfect combination of all of my passions, and I am beyond ecstatic to be able to be pursuing it here in the Texas Medical Center.”
What are you hoping to gain from this program?
“I am really hoping to gain some professional and personal connections with people. My mom always makes fun of me and how much of a‘natural networker’I am just because of how talkative I am. However, this has served me so well in the past because of the amazing connections I have made throughout my school years. I am very excited at the opportunity to meet people who share my passion for medicine and helping people.”
您希望在10年后去哪里？
“In 10 years, I would like to be living in Austin, Texas, again; I truly love it there, hopefully close to my twin sister. I also would like to have completed my BSN to DNP degree and be working in a hospital as a nurse practitioner while also doing research on the side! I love learning and I never want to stop, and I know that if I am in this profession, I’ll never have to. I am not sure yet what specialty I want to pursue, but I know I want it to be one that is very hands-on with lots of patient interaction. I’m excited to see where the next 10 years take me, and I’m open to any curves life may throw at me.”
莎拉·卡杜尔（Sarah Kaddour）
