Mirian Zavala, MS, RN, DNSc
The Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY)
Ms. Zavala did not begin her educational life as a nurse but rather as an economics major. After searching for a fulfilling career, she discovered nursing at CUNY Lehman College, where she graduated with honors. Following experiences as a staff nurse in cardiology and as a researcher in the adolescent AIDS clinic, she was accepted into the Adult Health program at Lehman College where she pursued her interests in community health issues and advocated for vulnerable populations, particularly members of the female Hispanic community.
As a research assistant in the CUNY education system, she was mentored by nursing’s leading research scientists, which prepared her for clinical roles in complex health care and education research projects within the community. Over the years, her areas of interest have diversified: cardiology, women with cardiac disease, adolescent HIV/AIDS, nursing students in academia, and nursing students and successful test-taking outcomes with the NCLEX licensure exam. She has taught at Lehman College for many years, teaching at all levels of the undergraduate program and will begin at Pace University, Lienhard School of Nursing this fall.
Ms. Zavala has completed her course work for her Doctorate of Nursing Science at the CUNY Graduate Center, has successfully defended her proposal and is now collecting data for her dissertation entitled, “The Lived-Experience of Single Hispanic Women Raising Their Children in a Community Identified as Violent”.
