Ray Romano ’11

Right before his sophomore year, Ray Romano, MPH, MSN, RN, FNP-BC, ’11, had a major change of heart: “I realized I wanted to go into the healthcare field. I dropped all my courses, changed my major to biology, and enrolled in a new set of classes a week before the start of the semester.”

Romano has never regretted that pivotal decision, and became a doctoral student at the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. In June 2016, Romano began a two-year fellowship with the Department of Veterans Affairs. His work and research—including several publications and presentations—focus on Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and how technology can improve quality of life.

Although he lives in Nashville now, Romano fondly remembers New York City as an ideal environment for a budding scientist. “The Marymount Manhattan faculty use innovative teaching approaches and take advantage of NYC as the school’s extended campus. I frequently visited the American Museum of Natural History and remember collecting samples for my research from the beach at Coney Island,” he says. “MMC prepared me the most for a career in science.” 

This spotlight originally appeared in the Winter 2017 issue of MMC Magazine.