A Nurse Changed Her Life. Now She’s Working to Change the Law

As president of the Pace Nursing Student Association (PNSA) and policy and education director for the Nursing Students’ Association of New York State, Tram is already making her voice heard. She credits Lienhard faculty with encouraging her ambitions and connecting her with opportunities, including a Mount Sinai Health System internship and a collaborative student research position at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Why did you choose to enroll in the BS in Nursing program?

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I decided to major in nursing because I experienced a lot of health issues in high school, and, after being in and out of the hospital for so long, I started to identify as a patient and with my illness, and it was hard to find the motivation to heal. Then, sometime around junior year, I met a nurse who changed the entire trajectory of my recovery. It was the first time in a long time that someone treated me like a person and not just a patient, and that not only motivated me to make progress in my healing journey, but it was through her kindness that I realized how much of an impact a nurse can have, and this helped me see a professional future in something meaningful.

Recently, you worked on important advocacy with the Nursing Students' Association of New York State (NSANYS) to raise the minimum age of consent for sex. Tell me more about your interest in advocacy and your role with NSANYS.

I have always had an advocacy bone. Healthcare advocacy, however, wasn't something I knew about until I attended Pace’s hosting of the Oncology Nursing Society’s Advocacy Day conference. I felt empowered to bridge the gap from being an individual nursing student to meshing with a bigger, broader, more abstract idea of healthcare. My belief in advocating for my patients as well as nursing transcending beyond bedside care evolved on that day.

Working with nursing student leaders from across the state as policy and education director at NSANYS has been very rewarding, and the opportunity to write the resolution (and serve as a member of the Resolution Committee) pushed me to take the first step in sharing my concerns nationally. I was intimidated at first but learned a lot about leadership and having the confidence to take on important roles.

How is this topic meaningful to you and what impact do you hope to have?

Throughout this experience, I learned that choosing a topic to advocate for that I really cared about made it that much harder. The current law on the age of consent for sex made no sense to me; I was also confused and angry that there was such a discrepancy across state lines and dismayed that no one seemed to be doing anything about it, so I decided that I would be the person to address it. I'm hoping that through my advocacy work, the age of consent can be raised to 18, at least in New York State, and eventually nationally. The development of a teenager doesn't vary from state to state, and so, there should be laws to protect adolescents until they are developmentally capable of consenting to sex.

Tell me more about your role as president of the Pace Nursing Student Association (PNSA) and how this is meaningful to you.

I take so much pride in and I'm excited to have stepped into the role as president of PNSA. This year's board is a wonderful and capable group of nursing students, with incredible ideas for on and off campus events. It's a privilege to work with such a great team, and, this year, we have expanded by adding committees for Men in Nursing and Mental Health.

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What internships have you had as a student?

Currently, I am a nursing student scientist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, a collaborative research position between the Center and Pace’s Lienhard School of Nursing. And this past summer, I completed the Mount Sinai Student Nurse internship in the apheresis department, an opportunity Chief Nursing Officer and Associate Professor Esma Paljevic, EdD, RN, CPNP, FNYAM, graciously connected me with. I’m so grateful that the contributions of my professors and clinical instructors and the knowledge I gained in Lienhard prepared me to excel in my internships.

What other faculty have been instrumental in your academic journey?

I am indefinitely grateful to Professor Stephanie Allen, PhD, RN, who has nurtured my aspirations for research and policy work and supported my leadership endeavors. Her joy and enthusiasm are contagious, and I believe that nursing education needs more individuals like her. In addition, when I came to Clinical Assistant Professor Kara Giustino, MSN, CPNP with my resolution proposal, she was so affirming that what I was advocating for was necessary and urgent. She poured herself into it as if it was her own, and her contributions helped during times when I doubted myself.

What are your post-graduation/career plans?

I am very eager to gain bedside experience with patients when I graduate, and my current role at MSKCC reflects my eagerness in continuing with oncology. I think it's a good blend of med surge, where I can build lots of clinical and therapeutic skills, with the added challenge of cancer increasing the level of acuity within the population I am caring for. Long term, I want to be a women's health nurse practitioner. Women's health is centered on conception and obstetrics, yet various reproductive pathologies may occur throughout their lives, and so, I would like my future practice to reflect the realities of the needs of women's health.

What advice would you like to provide for students?

Get involved! The skills I didn't even know I needed to develop and the exposure to things that matter to me now were only accomplished through allowing myself to be challenged by opportunities I was intimidated by. I know the feeling of looking at other students and viewing them as extraordinarily talented or intelligent (beyond any perceived capacity I would ever achieve) and thinking that there was no way I could ever be so capable. And yet, through trial and error, and not being afraid to say yes to opportunities (or being afraid and still saying yes), I am the student I once looked up to.=

Did you know? Pace Undergraduate Nursing Jumped 25 Spots in 2027 U.S. News rankings.