Nadiah Baghdadi
After receiving my Bachelor degree in Nursing, I worked as a staff nurse at an internationally recognized hospital in Saudi Arabia. As a new graduate, the opportunity was challenging. However, I soon realized that the hospital was a melting pot for nurses and physicians from different countries. This provided me a wonderful, unique learning opportunity and I tried to learn as much as I could from them.
Pursuing graduate education became my goal as I was developing into a successful nurse serving her community. As a nurse working with expatriates in my country, I witnessed and recognized the need to develop the nursing profession in Saudi Arabia. This need propelled me towards pursuing my graduate degree and now my PhD degree. I strongly believe that as I acquire more knowledge, the better I will be in serving my community.
My ultimate goal is to return to my country prepared with the knowledge and skills to build fundamental policies that focus on hiring and retaining of qualified Saudi nurses and implementing culturally sensitive patient care.

Brenda Douglas
I have long understood that a PhD in nursing will realize my educational goals and move me closer to my personal definition of self-actualization. As it is my belief that scholarly endeavors enhance professional practice and teaching.  Pursuing a PhD in nursing supports my desire to provide exemplary teaching in a progressive university and to make significant scholarly contributions to advance the science of nursing care for elders. Areas of significant research interest include adherence to medication regimens and adherence to lifestyle modifications that support the management of hypertension among elders particularly those in minority groups. The ultimate goal I hope to achieve through my research is to reveal knowledge structures surrounding the phenomenon of adherence among elders that guide meaningful care and intervention decisions to promote sustainable healthy behaviors.

Mary Ann McDonnell
I have contemplated going back to school for my PhD for many years.  During my years working as the director of clinical trials in pediatric psychopharmacology research at Massachusetts General Hospital, I was involved as a co-investigator on many research studies.  I worked hard in this role and gained great experience.  However, over time, I grew tired of doing everyone else's research and developed my own research ideas and agenda.  During this time, I was also teaching part time at Northeastern University and University of Massachusetts, which I really enjoyed. 
After much thought, I decided that getting a PhD in Nursing would enable me to achieve my goals of pursuing a tenure track faculty position at a University, and having a successful research career.  I must also say that my mentors were influential in my career decisions.  They were persistent in encouraging me to get a PhD and to launch my own research studies.  Without their guidance and mentorship, I may not have chosen this path.

Ola Sukkarieh
My professional goal is to become a nursing scholar and nurse researcher. Ultimately, a PhD degree would fulfill my aspirations. My area of research is focused in diabetes self-management among older adults. With the increasing number of older adults, we see a parallel increase in the number of individuals living with chronic disease.  The PhD degree will give me the opportunity to generate new knowledge in an attempt to enhance science of nursing and influence nursing practice. Northeastern University is a well-respected school, nationally and internationally. With its unique program that is urban focused, I am confident that I will have an exceptional experience; I am proud to be part of this educational experience.

Rosemary Taylor
I chose Northeastern because my research interests are well supported here. Finding connection with Susan Jo Roberts’ work was an important factor in my decision to return to school and pursue my PhD. I am fortunate to have the opportunity to work with her and other distinguished faculty in the School of Nursing.
My primary areas of interest are lateral violence and communication. I am interested in the incommensurability between the behaviors associated with lateral violence and the science of nursing. I am also interested in “voice” (“being heard”, “speaking up” and “speaking out”) and advocacy, as well as the importance of disclosure and creating cultures that encourage the reporting of errors through non-punitive approaches.
My goal is to investigate communication and other issues, including workplace stressors and culture, which contribute to and perpetuate lateral violence in nursing and to find solutions that will improve nurses’ work experience and patient outcomes.