Living Legacy

Fellowship Recipients Are a Tribute to the Life of Ellen Zamoiski
by Sara Michael

Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing lost a great friend when Ellen Levi Zamoiski died on October 19, 2010.

Over the years, Zamoiski’s daughter and son-in-law, Clair Zamoiski Segal and Thomas (Tommy) H. Segal, have given generously to the school in her honor, and in 2005 established the Ellen Levi Zamoiski Doctoral Fellowship.

Her legacy lives on in these Hopkins-trained nurse researchers, who benefited from the Zamoiski Fellowship.

The first recipient of the fellowship, Jessica Roberts Williams, PhD ’08, MSN ’05, applies her interest in mental health and her skills of translating research findings in practical applications as a research analyst with a consulting firm outside Washington, DC. The fellowship is particularly meaningful, Williams says, because it recognizes “the importance of doctoral education in nursing and the contribution it makes to the field.”

As a critical care nurse and trache-ostomy nurse practitioner, Vinciya Pandian, MSN ’04, dedicated her career to mechanical ventilation and its effect on quality of life. With the fellowship, Pandian could take classes full-time and receive the support and guidance needed for conducting research. Without it, “I would not have come this far,” she said, adding she plans to become an international expert on the management of adult patients with tracheostomy.

For Sara Rosenthal, MSN ’08, BS ’04, her diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes in college and the impact providers had on her then set the stage for her nursing career. Her work in a neonatal intensive care unit inspired her doctoral research on treatment decision-making, work made possible through the fellowship. “This really allowed me to dedicate myself full-time to my coursework.”

Mary Paterno’s interest in healthcare was awakened when she witnessed intense poverty during a trip to China as a professional pianist. Paterno, MSN ’10, BS ’06, who pursued nurse-midwifery and is working on her PhD, relied on the funding at a critical time during her ambitious combined master’s and PhD program. “It allowed me to focus on my role as an advanced practice nurse and as a researcher.”