Meredith Sheehan, BSN, RN, is the grateful recipient of the 2022 Geraldine Labecki/Nurses Educational Funds Scholarship. She obtained her bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania and is currently completing her master’s degree to become a Family Nurse Practitioner at Pace University in New York. Meredith is currently a surgical nurse at CCRM Fertility in New York, where she cares for patients undergoing IVF retrievals and fertility preservation procedures. Fertility management has fostered her interest in both gynecology and endocrinology, both of which she hopes to pursue in her work as a nurse practitioner.

Meredith worked as an inpatient oncology nurse at Memorial Sloan Kettering for four years, where her growth was fostered by many knowledgeable and dedicated nurse practitioners and nurse leaders. After noticing an opportunity to improve diabetes management for patients transitioning to inpatient care, she became the first nursing representative on the Inpatient Glycemic Control Council, a multidisciplinary team that helped update current guidelines and address lapses in care. This work, in addition to many conversations with her own patients, solidified Meredith’s interest in transitions in care and patient education.

Meredith carried this interest into her work as a home care nurse for the Visiting Nurse Service of New York, assisting patients with chronic illnesses and recent hospitalizations manage their health at home. She also volunteered for the Friends of Nurse Family Partnership, an organization that provides home care for first-time, low-income mothers. Particularly throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, this work helped paint a fuller picture of the healthcare system for Meredith, and confirmed her desire to work in primary care. She is interested in endocrinology, particularly in the context of women’s health, as adequate endocrine management requires a psychosocial perspective and dedication to patient teaching.

As a nurse practitioner, Meredith hopes to perpetuate the positive experiences she’s had in her undergraduate, graduate, and professional education through clinical and laboratory teaching. As a tutor and mentor for undergraduate nurses at the University of Pennsylvania, graduate assistant at Pace University, and member of Sigma Theta Tau, she’s enjoyed sharing and expanding upon the generational knowledge of the nursing field. She is grateful to all of the preceptors, educators, colleagues, and nurse leaders who have helped her in her career thus far and is especially thankful to the Nurses Educational Funds for making her goal of becoming a Family Nurse Practitioner attainable.