I was welcomed warmly and with so many smiles.

Danielle Di Piazza Dolan, RN, MSN, NP-C, AE-C​
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​For the past 19 years of my nursing career, there is not a day that goes by that I do not think about what my education at Felician provided for me as a nurse and nurse practitioner. I am so happy to be a part of this page and join others in appreciating what Felician has done for me in my nursing career.
 
I attended Felician months after obtaining my Bachelor’s degree in psychology from another school, later realizing I wanted to be a nurse. Both my mother and grandmother were nurses, so I thought I would initially choose a different path, but I was wrong, I did want to be a nurse. Walking into their offices in 1998 I was nervous as I had just graduated from a previous program for an entirely different major.
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I was welcomed warmly and with so many smiles, I remember them today, 20+ years later. I will never forget their nursing lab and clinicals, the instructors were hands on, and more importantly, they really cared. It was an intimidating world, but the class sizes were small and intimate. Something I really appreciated after attending a school where I was basically a social security number.
 
I graduated with my BSN in Spring of 2001, just prior to 9/11 starting my first job in pediatric oncology at Hackensack University Medical Center, floating to the PICU, NICU and the general peds floor working nights! Peds Onc was not exactly what a 20 something year old fresh out of nursing school would normally consider, however, I was more prepared and ready than I ever thought I would be, thanks to my prior clinicals and real world nurse training.
 
After working several years in oncology and ICU, I attended the University of Maryland post marriage and move south entering into an accelerated 18 month family nurse practitioner program.
Academically, I again felt prepared through my time at Felician years prior.
 
I have spent the past 19 years working in the world of Oncology, hospitalist medicine and infectious disease. Most of my clinical time has been spent rounding in several hospitals and nursing homes across the DC and NJ areas. Most recently and currently, I joined the Medical Affairs world of Astra Zeneca. I am now a Clinical Science Liaison for their respiratory division for New Jersey.
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I am also a speaker for their educational programs and have had the opportunity to present at national, state and local nursing conferences as well as to former colleagues, students and faculty.
I still think of my time at Felician and cannot believe it has been 20 years since I felt so warmly welcomed, that feeling of smiling acceptance into their program will always be close to my heart.

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