Megan Moyer

The recipient of the 2018 M. Louise Fitzpatrick Nursing Scholarship Award, Megan Moyer earned her ASN in 1999 and BSN in 2001 from Gwynedd-Mercy College and her MSN from Thomas Jefferson University in 2007 specializing as an adult acute care nurse practitioner. Megan is ANCC-certified as an Adult Acute Care Nurse Practitioner. Additionally, Megan has been a Certified Neuroscience Registered Nurse (CNRN) for the past 13 years.

Megan is presently working as a nurse practitioner with the traumatic brain injury clinical research team at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA. As a novice nurse researcher, skilled clinician, and patient advocate, Megan is able to provide expert clinical, compassionate care for patients and families while they are in the hospital and continues to follow them along the continuum of care post discharge from the acute care environment. She is integrally involved in patient-oriented research projects, ranging from investigator initiated research to multicenter collaborative studies. In 2017, Megan implemented the traumatic brain injury support group at The University of Pennsylvania that gathers monthly to meet an unmet need in the community to provide expert counseling for this widely underserved patient population through counseling, support, and knowledge. Megan is actively involved in the community and promotes the brain injury support group as well as provides traumatic brain injury prevention education at local conferences and community health fairs.

In 2016, Megan started another chapter of her education as a PhD student at The Villanova University M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing. Her dissertation research is focused on determining the effect of nurse-initiated patient mobilization in the neurological ICU for patients with external ventriculostomy drains. Her current studies are inspired by her ongoing clinical work in traumatic brain injury. She is also motivated by the nursing colleagues she works along side of: nursing students, those new to practice, experienced nurses, and advanced practice nurse clinicians. Megan is grateful that she has had the privilege to precept, mentor, and educate. Megan aspires to establish a role that combines her passion as a nurse scientist, nurse educator, expert advanced practice clinician, and future nurse leader. She hopes the knowledge gained through her doctoral education will prepare her to independently conduct translational nursing research and impact the next generation of nursing students.

Megan belongs to a number of nursing organizations including the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses (AANN), Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI), and the National League for Nursing (NLN). Megan maintains her lifelong learning and her career in nursing while raising her two children with her husband.

Personal experiences led Megan to choose nursing as her discipline and to continue to further her desire to advance her nursing education that is rooted in her desire to provide compassionate care through the art and science of nursing. Megan seeks to share her experiences in nursing with future generations of nurses through education, practice, mentorship, and research.