Maria Molina

I attribute my success to never giving up on the things I know are valuable to me. Throughout my career, I've faced a lot of roadblocks and challenges - people who didn't want to give me leadership opportunities even though I had been president of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines in high school and knew I had leadership skills. When I came to the United States, there were roadblocks, so I channeled my energies into volunteerism and sought out opportunities myself. I wouldn't be past president of the International Transplant Nurses Society if I had not sought out the board of directors position myself. Even at my work, there have been roadblocks with my research because I don't have a PhD, so I leveraged my Doctor of Nursing Practice by getting certifications - that's why I have so many. The key takeaway is to never give up on the thing that you know is valuable to you. If you assess that you are able to do it, there will be a lot of people that might give you roadblocks and heartaches and challenges, but it comes down to your own self-discipline to achieve what you want. Even if other people do not believe in you, if they see you taking action and taking responsibility and accountability, things will happen. The International Transplant Nurses Society was a great platform for me to demonstrate this. I started in 2018 and just ended last year, going from board member to president, and I was able to utilize all the certifications I gained over the years in leading change and mentoring future nurse leaders.

The best career advice she received is to never give up on the things you know truly matter to you. Stay committed to your values and trust that they will guide you in the right direction.

I always start with assessment - know what you want, because my path is different from another person's path. Don't compare yourself to others, because I'm very passionate about what I want. If you know what you want, just start with a purpose. Everything will follow, just like with me and cardiology - it seems like the universe actually allowed me to meet people that could mentor me. The main thing is assess, and then do your purpose and put it into action. I call it APA - assess what you want, do it with your purpose in life, and take action. Because if you don't take action on your purpose, it's not going to happen. In my entire life, I actually found ways for me to be in positions I wanted. At University of Pennsylvania, which is very competitive, when they see you're too competitive, you're either a threat or they think you're not that good and give you roadblocks. So I channeled my energies into volunteerism. My success is not easy - I work hard for it because I know what I want. Never give up on the things you know are valuable to you. If you assess that you are able to do it, there will be a lot of people that might give you roadblocks and heartaches and challenges, but it comes down to your own self-discipline to achieve what you want. Even if other people do not believe in you, if they see that you are taking action and taking responsibility and accountability, things will happen.

There's a shortage in nursing, and there's an even bigger shortage in nursing education. That's why I'm doing a lot of things and looking into transitioning to teaching, because the future of nursing starts with having good educators. There's like 80,000 students that were supposed to be going to nursing school this year, but there's no professors to teach them. At the same time, there are tremendous opportunities in nursing - you can do so many different things. You can go into research, just like what I'm doing. You can be an administrator if you want. You can be in informatics if you're good in IT. If you are good in math and you're an accountant looking for a change in career or second career, nursing will be a good thing because you can do finances in healthcare. Nursing offers such diversity. The healthcare workforce in the United States is so big, and the healthcare industry is really number one in terms of nursing because we are the workforce - we are the foot soldiers.

In my work, I really value putting the patient first and translating evidence to practice. I bridge research, informatics, and bedside care, leading initiatives that improve quality, reduce variability, and align with value-based healthcare models. If you put the patient first, it will align with value-based healthcare and actually answer the quadruple aim of the United States - efficient care with effective clinical care for our patients. The quadruple aim includes not just cost, outcomes, and the patient, but also the provider, because at the end of the day, if we don't take care of ourselves and experience burnout, then we can't take care of our patients. I'm Generation X, and we value being busy - we grew up independent because our parents were boomers who worked all the time after World War II. I've been very independent and can speak for myself. My son, who is 29 and a millennial, always tells me I should have work-life balance, and he's right. I'm seeing it now in my later years that I put so much into my work, but at the end, when I die, they'll forget me or replace me. So we learn from each other - I learn from the younger generation as much as they see mentorship in me. I learn from their lens and their values. My son is the one who reminds me that work-life balance is important, and I've learned from him too. I like organizations where there's no hierarchy and we are all equal - I learn from the younger generation as much as they learn from me.