Lauren Ghazal

Lauren Ghazal is the proud recipient of the Foundation of the National Student Nurses’ Association (NSNA) 50th Anniversary Scholarship. Lauren is currently a student in the Florence S. Downs PhD Program in Nursing Research and Theory Development at the Rory Meyers College of Nursing at New York University, where she is a T42 Occupational and Environmental Health (OEHN) pre-doctoral fellow.

Lauren earned her first bachelor’s degree in economics at Boston College (2013), a second bachelor’s in nursing at Regis College (2015), and a master’s of science in nursing at Regis College (2016). She is a board-certified family nurse practitioner, currently practicing in Manhattan.

Prior to working as a nurse practitioner, Lauren was a clinical research nurse at the Harvard Catalyst Clinical Research Center in Boston. Alongside this experience, Lauren worked as a Graduate Assistant in global nursing and soon began to see the intersections of health and economics in her clinical and research work. Field experiences in Malawi with Partners in Health further spurred her research interests and she decided to pursue a PhD.

Building on a personal experience with cancer during her first year of the PhD program, Lauren is using her background in economics in combination with her research and clinical experiences in global health to develop a program of research in cancer survivorship and well-being. Broadly, Lauren is interested in the survivorship needs of adolescents and young adults with cancer, an understudied population that has many needs that remain unmet, with a focus on financial toxicity.

Lauren serves as President of the Doctoral Student Organization at NYU Meyers, is an Executive Board Member of the NYC Chapter of the Oncology Nursing Society and is a Herman Biggs Health Policy Fellow. She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau International, the Eastern Nursing Research Society, and the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.

Lauren is a strong advocate for the subjects of her research and is grateful for this recognition and scholarship support to offset costs associated with her continued education and professional development. Following her PhD studies, she plans to pursue a post-doctoral fellowship and a career as a nurse researcher. She hopes to serve as a mentor for the next generation of nurse researchers and leaders, as many renowned nurses have done for her.