Hi Cristina!
My name is Kathy Cordova and I am a third year. Before deciding to switch my career to nursing, I was majoring in biochemistry and was on the pre-med track. After learning more about nursing and how nursing takes a holistic view on the healthcare, I realized how much nursing aligned with my values. Also, I really appreciated how nursing has flexible hours and shifts, thus allowing me to be more involved with my family. Another huge plus in the flexible hours is having the ability to travel. I follow an ICU nurse on Instagram, and almost every week she is traveling to a new country. I love traveling; thus, I would definitely love to broaden my horizons with experiencing new cultures, new experiences, and new food.
My interests in nursing lie in working with infants. Before making the switch to nursing, I had the ability to shadow a neonatologist. I remember that day so clearly because I came into realization how much I wanted to work in the NICU. I felt such a strong connection working with the ill infants and seeing how the medical staff did everything in their power to make them better. Also, the stories I heard that day made me realize that the NICU has the ability to build strong connections with the patients and family members due to the long hospital admissions. Therefore, one of my career goals is to become a neonatal nurse practitioner.
Another career goal of mine is to work part time at the NIH and work on research projects pertinent to the NICU. I have been involved in research since I was 17 years old. The first research project that I was involved was at Nationwide Children’s Hospital working on looking at the metabolic shift of aerobic respiration to anaerobic respiration in preeclampsia cells. At the age of 18, I became a published author on the research project. Even though I loved the research I was conducting in the lab, I was starting college and I decided to leave. The second research project that I was involved was with Dr. Mei Wei Chang on weight management of pregnant and postpartum women. During this project I learned how to interact and work with research subjects, whereas my work at NCH was more wet lab and coding. Now, I am working with Dr. Toni Harrison on infants’ feeding with congenital heart disease. I am very excited about working with this research project due to it lying within my interests.
That is a little bit about me! I am looking forward for this semester!
-Kathy