Magnuson Scholar 2021 - Tao Zheng

Congratulations to Tao Zheng who is the 2021 UW School of Nursing Magnuson Scholar. Read more about Tao and this prestigious award on Executive Dean Azita Emami’s blog post.

Below is Tao’s student spotlight.

Name: Tao Zheng 

Hometown: Jieyang, Guangdong, China 

Graduation Year/Program: 2024/PhD Nursing Science 

What is your research/areas of interest? Sleep and cognition in individuals with advanced heart failure after receiving a left ventricular assist device 

Do you have a faculty mentor? Cynthia Dougherty, Elaine Thompson 

Are you a scholarship recipient? Magnuson Scholarship 2021-2022; American Association of Critical-Care Nurses National Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition (NTI) scholarship (national, and 1st place local chapter) 2020; T32 Omics and Symptom Science Training Grant 2019-2021 

Why did you choose nursing? I made a transition from business to nursing when I moved to the US in 2006. However, I have always known I love being with people and teaching, which inspired me to choose nursing and eventually motivated me to pursue my Master of Nursing degree as a nurse educator. For over 10 years in my clinical practice, I have witnessed patients with advanced heart failure living in a cycle of frequent transitions between care settings, struggling with unmet needs and distress from inadequately managed symptoms, which piqued my interests to better understand symptom and symptom management science to improve the quality of life in persons with advanced heart failure. 

Has COVID-19 impacted your decision to go in to nursing? Definitely. As a registered nurse, my daily clinical practice has been highly impacted by COVID-19. I can only imagine how much the pandemic has impacted individuals with chronic illness. I am committed to generate ideas, strategies, and new knowledge on how to optimize patient outcomes. 

How has your experience at the School of Nursing helped you with your career trajectory? My experience as a PhD student has been outstanding. Since I started the program with the support of the Omics and Symptom Science training program, I have received interdisciplinary didactic research training in the fundamental theories, methods, and skills necessary to conduct research that includes physiologic measures in concert with symptoms. As part of my education and professional development, I have joined an interdisciplinary research team in cardiovascular nursing science led by Dr. Cynthia Dougherty and Dr. Elaine Thompson. With this team, I have gained knowledge in evaluating outcomes in patients with cardiovascular disease. I am currently working as a research assistant with Dr. Jonathan Auld, I have gained experience and skills in data abstraction, entry, and management that are necessary for my proposed dissertation project. 

What are your plans after graduation? I plan to pursue postdoctoral training immediately following the completion of my PhD to continue to participate in mentored research while conducting further quantitative and qualitative data analysis to shape future intervention development to enhance symptom and symptom management science in people living with AHF. Ultimately, I hope to obtain a faculty position at a research-intensive university that will allow me to continue to work on interdisciplinary teams to further my program of research. 

Anything else you would like to share? I love to cook and I started a youtube channel during the pandemic. I am a 500 hour certified yoga instructor.