Marion Leary
BIO
Director of Innovation at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.
Instagram: @marionleary
Twitter: @marionleary
Marion Leary
“I now either do homework and “extra work” in the early hours over the weekend while my teenager is still sleeping, or even better, we do homework together – a time that I truly cherish!”
My path into STEMM was far from straightforward — which fits well with my entire life’s journey. I am a first-generation college student, the first to be working toward a doctoral degree, and the first to come out as a member of the #LGBTQ community (though not the only one, my twin sister is also gay). It took me a long time to figure out myself personally and also professionally.
I had always loved science and art, and when I was young, hoped to one day be an astronomer, environmental scientist, or artist — but I had no idea how to begin. So while my parents encouraged my twin sister and I to go to college right after high school, it was not something that interested us much. I was always good at school, but I never really liked being in school very much (that remains true to this day — though you wouldn’t know it from all of the degrees I’ve racked up).
Instead, my sister and I worked and volunteered for various AIDS service organizations in our community. This experience helped me gain skills and knowledge I truly believe formed me into the person I am today and helped me understand myself in a way that I had never had the opportunity to do before. I met a group of like-minded individuals who accepted me for who I was, the first time in my life that had happened.
Instead of going to college, I decided to follow a girl to Boston. I started working as a Case Manager in a residential program for people with HIV/AIDS, mental illness, and addiction issues. It was during that time that I was first exposed to the profession of nursing. I met a nurse who epitomized what I wish I had known about nursing — and what I wish the general public could see — a profession of knowledgeable, compassionate, creative, autonomous, and innovative professionals. Because of this nurse, I finally decided to go back to school and get a degree in nursing. I started taking courses at a community college in Boston and then moved back home to Philadelphia (a little while after the girl and I broke up).
Once back home, I was not convinced nursing was for me. I did not know anything about the profession, and the only thing I knew was from what I had seen on television, nurses working at the bedside and being told what to do by physicians…and that didn’t resonate with me…at all. But, I kept thinking about that nurse I worked with in Boston and the difference between the stereotype and the reality.
I still wasn’t convinced, though, and made a first failed start at the Art Institute of Philadelphia, spending one semester realizing I did not have the artistic ability needed to keep up with my classmates. After that, I decided to take the easy route and get a degree in Hospitality and Management, focusing on event production since I was doing it professionally during that time. After a year, though, I knew it was not the right fit and kept coming back to nursing; then, one day, while doing some internet searching, I saw a brochure from a local university about the various roles nurses performed, and one of them was as a Nurse Researcher. It was a sky-clearing moment; I knew that was it; I had found my nursing program and enrolled.
As an aside, it was during this time that I met my wife – all of our big life events have happened while I’ve been in school – we were married while I was in school and we had our daughter while I was in school. My wife jokes that I have been in school the entire time we have been together (21 years), and she is not necessarily wrong!
It was two weeks into my senior year of nursing school when my wife gave birth to our daughter, on a Monday night, and I was back at clinicals first thing Wednesday morning. To say that last year was a blur would be an understatement!
As I eluded to above, I did not go into nursing to be a bedside nurse or clinician; I wanted to pursue a career in research. I always loved science, the asking, and answering of questions, and so it seemed like the perfect fit. After nursing school, I worked briefly as a nurse in the medical intensive care unit and then began my research career focused on resuscitation science while also pursuing a dual master’s degree in nursing and public health.
During my career as a resuscitation science researcher, it was a complex balancing act between the responsibilities of my career and my responsibilities to my family. I would go to work (and school), come home, spend time with my family, and then go back to work at night to work on grants and to respond to clinical events as a resuscitation consultant. That time was also a blur.
But I was also learning so much, and that is when I started falling in love with all things STEMM and STEAM. I began creating technologies to help lay responders and healthcare providers improve their cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) skills. I also fell in love with science communication, using various mediums to translate the work I was doing in resuscitation science for the public.
While working as a resuscitation science researcher, I was also teaching a research course to undergraduate nurses and began a part-time PhD program at Penn Nursing; this time around the balancing act has been a bit easier as my kid has gotten older, I now either do homework and “extra work” in the early hours over the weekend while my teenager is still sleeping, or even better, we do homework together – a time that I truly cherish!
It was during my time as a resuscitation scientist and educator that I began to see the connection between health and healthcare innovation and the field of nursing, realizing that I could make a more significant impact in healthcare, by helping nurses understand their innovative prowess and teaching them innovation methodologies. Now as the Director of Innovation at Penn Nursing, I sit at the intersection of nursing, technology, creativity, innovation, design, and communication — I get to bring together all of my passions and interests in a way that I could have never imagined back when I was that lost kid with no clear direction.
The life I have now as a nurse innovator, researcher, and educator is one that I feel very fortunate to have. It was a path built on perseverance, creativity, and risk-taking. It is a path that I model every day for my kid and hopefully for my students. There are so many possibilities in nursing and STEMM/STEAM, which makes them a perfect fit for someone like me who never really fit anyplace else!