Debra A. Schatz-Salzman

When I started at Florida International University, it was just starting. I already had a bachelor's degree, and I was working part-time at my family's jewelry store. I met a faculty member, and she told me FIU was starting to College of Nursing, and I became very interested. It was an amazing adventure going through school at FIU. There was a lot of trial and error, but we made it through. We did well on the Board Exam, and we became an accredited program. At the time, we had to sign contracts with the surrounding hospitals. They had to agree to hire us when we graduated. I applied to Broward General, and I was accepted to work there. My internship was with critical care medicine, and they offered me a position right away. I stayed on that career path and eventually advanced to working with organ donation transplant patients. I went on to get a job with Northwest Medical Center, and I started working with stroke patients. I ended up working in clinal research for a couple of years before retiring.