A Path of Her Own

A rising star among our young alumni, Christina Slota, BS ’09, came to the University at Buffalo to fulfill her dream of becoming a nurse practitioner, a career she felt was her destiny. Slota grew into a young adult amidst an assemblage of nurses – her mother and many aunts – but, somewhere along the way, she fell in love with research.

Following a slight detour from her desired path, Slota’s focus shifted during her junior year at UB. Slota, seeking out research assistantships, began working with Emeritus Professor Janice Feigenbaum, PhD, RN, on a literature review of parents recovering from addiction and, after being awarded a Lois Widly Scholarship, the group presented their work at a conference in Georgia.

Now immersed in research and scholarship, Slota paired with Associate Professor Mary Ann Meeker, DNS, RN, to investigate family caregiver issues. She assisted with a UB SON- and National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded qualitative descriptive content analysis of focus groups to identify needs of inner-city caregivers – it was these projects that ignited her initial interest in caregiver stress, a topic that has become her research area of interest and life’s work. These early research experiences, along with her work as a nurse’s aide on a hospice unit, became the prime motivators for her pursuit of a career in nursing research.

Slota says her desire to pursue a PhD was cultivated by UB’s great educational environment, coupled with the abundance of opportunity for student scholarship. Post-graduation, she went on to the University of Pennsylvania and earned her master’s in nursing in 2010, a master’s in bio-ethics in 2012 and a PhD in 2014, all while funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research as an NIH fellow. Slota dedicated herself to three years of dissertation research at the NIH Clinical Center working with Lt. Cmdr. Margaret Bevans, PhD, RN, AOCN.

Eager to share her experiences and guide current and former students interested in furthering their education, Slota emphasizes curiosity and connections – to professors, to nurses, to researchers, to other students and to ideas. She urges them to query faculty about possible pathways, to immerse themselves in the field by shadowing a nurse practitioner or researcher, to network with other students sharing similar interests, and to be determined.

Currently a nurse research specialist at the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences at the NIH, Slota is a clinical coordinator researching patient-reported outcomes and quality of life for rare genetic disorders.

Slota credits Feigenbaum and Meeker with nurturing her passion for research: “They took me under their wings, supporting and mentoring me throughout my undergraduate studies. I owe them both a lot for all the support they have given me throughout this process.”

She also praises UB for helping her form lifelong friendships with classmates who continue to support her through this arduous journey of making her dream a reality.

- DONNA A. TYRPAK