Governor Patrick signs CNHS doctoral student’s bill into law
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| Governor Patrick signing “An Act to Promote Biomedical Research,” which CNHS PhD student Patricia Hickey worked on for her internship project. Left to right: Senate Majority Leader Frederick Berry; Stella Kourenbanos, Chief of Neonatology at Children’s Hospital Boston; UMass Boston doctoral student Patricia Hickey; Representative Jeffrey Sanchez. |
A bill worked on by CNHS doctoral candidate Patricia Hickey, titled “An Act to Promote Biomedical Research,” has been signed into law by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. The passage of the bill, which Hickey worked on during an internship project, was an especially significant accomplishment, given that only 5% of all the bills pass.
Hickey, who is an RN and also holds an MBA, is a third-year student in the doctoral program in nursing and health policy. Known as “Patty” at CNHS, she has been a source of inspiration for many nurses who are pursuing doctorates, and has been a strong advocate for the UMass Boston PhD Program in Nursing nationwide and internationally.
Patty’s research focuses on understanding the costs and nursing resource utilization associated with tertiary and quaternary pediatric care as well as the creation of healthy work environments and interdisciplinary practice. She also has a passion for advancing the practice and image of nursing and the health of children across the globe. Over the next six months Patty is scheduled to present at international nursing meetings in Australia, Switzerland, Italy and the Ukraine. She is an internationally recognized speaker and has more than 30 publications to her credit. Each year Patty hosts nurses from China and provides leadership and mentoring in hospital nursing.
For the past twenty years Patty has been a senior volunteer consultant for Project HOPE in Shanghai, helping to build a world-class pediatric nursing program at Xin Hua Hospital and Shanghai Children’s Medical Center. Her global health interests also reach to Central America, where she serves on the Board of Directors for the Castaneda Foundation, which provides philanthropic support for babies, and children who need cardiovascular care in Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador.
Patty is highly regarded and respected by our faculty and her fellow classmates. She inspires nurses to advance their knowledge and influence nursing practice. She leads by example, passion and devotion and has referred several very strong candidates to the program.