Lauren E. Pfeifer, MSN, RN is the 2018 recipient of the Lucy C. Perry Scholarship. Lauren is a native of Boston, Massachusetts and was inspired to become a nurse after watching how committed her grandmother, aunt and mother were to providing compassionate care in the field of nursing. She received her BSN at Boston College and Master’s Degree at the University of Delaware. Lauren is currently a full-time PhD student at Boston College and is focusing her research on investigating organizational behaviors that promote the development of healthy workplace cultures. Through her dissertation research, Lauren intends to explore the construct of psychological safety among nurses.

Prior to returning to school in 2016, Lauren worked in a number of professional roles. She has multiple years of experience in pediatrics—both in the community and acute-care setting. She presently works as a case manager in the emergency department at Boston Children’s Hospital. While completing her dissertation, Lauren also works as a research fellow and teaching assistant at Boston College. In this role, she has worked alongside leading nurse researchers investigating bullying in the adolescent population and healthcare setting.

In recognition of how workplace cultures can influence communication, collaboration, and the reporting of safety events, Lauren hopes to continue her professional career as a nurse researcher, mentor and educator. Lauren has a passion for education and hopes to work as an academic faculty member in the future. She is eager to help educate future nurses and to establish ways to advance interdisciplinary collaboration and promote psychological safety both in the classroom and in the healthcare setting.