Maria Van Pelt '92

Maria Van Pelt '92 BSN, MSA, MSN, Ph.D. need to look no further than next door to find her life’s inspiration.

Since I was a child, I knew I wanted to be a nurse," she said. "I always looked up to and admired my neighbor, Patrice Juliani, who was a nurse. She is still, to this day, my mentor. 

She was always so kind and compassionate and just an incredible human being. I remember her showing me her textbooks and saying, 'I'm a nurse. I study medicine.' That sounded interesting to me."

Knowing the reputation of the program and wanting to stay close to her Philadelphia roots, Van Pelt enrolled at Holy Family University as a first-generation college student. She promptly failed chemistry in that first semester.

"I think having that failure and being able to get the support I needed from the right people at Holy Family set me up for success," Van Pelt said. "Because of the strong foundational knowledge that I gained at Holy Family, the rigor of my anatomy and physiology courses, all of the pharmacology that I learned, I was able to pursue an advanced degree in nurse anesthesiology. Holy Family empowered me to embrace change and to lead. The nursing program prepared me to do anything that I wanted to do."

Now a clinical professor at Northeastern University and a former dean at the school, Van Pelt is widely regarded as an expert scholar and leader in patient safety. She has put in a lot of work, nationally and internationally, through advocacy, education and research, and policy development related to the compelling need for clinician peer support Involvement. She serves as a state peer advisor and on a number of national expert panels related to psychiatric mental health and substance use.

"Having grown up and lived in Northeast Philadelphia my entire life, I saw things through the exposure that Holy Family provided to me that I had never seen before," Van Pelt said. "I saw things differently in the community as a result of my community-based experiences and just the important work that needs to be done.

I think that was also the driving force for some of my leadership trajectory. I want to build people up, give positions, to make a meaningful contribution to the profession and to as successful as I have been." just give back."

Van Pelt, who went on to earn an MSA from St. Joseph's, an MSN from Villanova and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, often draws on that first semester chemistry class to empower others.

"When I see individuals who are striving to be nurse anesthetists and are concerned that they can't do it, I say, 'Look at me. I did it'," she said.

"Nurses are innovators from bedside to bench research. I would like to focus on mentoring and elevating leaders and supporting their trajectory. I want to build people up, give them opportunities and set them up to be
as successful as I have been."