Jean Farley

Faculty

Assistant Professor in the department of nursing in the NHA
Age: 64

Hometown: Rochester, N.Y.
Education: B.A. Georgetown University, nursing; graduate degree Catholic University, nursing

Areas of Research: Pediatric palliative care, children with chronic illnesses and disabilities.

Time at Georgetown: 46 years

Courses Taught: The pediatric nursing course, a health assessment course to sophomore nursing majors. Mentors senior students who are doing their capstone thesis project and also mentors senior students who are doing their clinical preceptorship for their last semester of the program.

What is the greatest challenge in your field today?
In nursing? Um, I would say keeping people well and healthy so they don’t go on to develop chronic, serious illnesses and the challenge getting those kinds of healthcare services to the people who need them most. So accessibility to health care I see as an issue, underinsured citizens, other people in the country trying to get them healthcare and vulnerable populations in general, that are more vulnerable to illness because of their socioeconomic status. They may not have a regular income, they may not have a place to live, they may not have a high enough level of education to get a job to support their family so it’s kind of some of those aspects that impact their health, ultimately.

How did you narrow your field of research?
A lot of it was just happenstance, an opportunity presented itself at the right time and I took a chance on something new and different, you know, took that chance and developed a passion for that and have been involved in it ever since.

What drew you to Georgetown?
Well I went here as an undergraduate, so I fell in love with it there and I did work at Children’s Hospital for a year, but then I came back and have had various roles and positions at the university and at the hospital in one way or another and been on the faculty of the school since 1991. But before then I was primarily practicing clinically at the hospital or elsewhere on the university campus.

What would you be doing if you weren’t teaching?
Being in clinical practice with children or people with chronic illnesses.

What is your most memorable encounter with a student?
I guess I would say it was after she was a student, but I was her advisor, from, you know, when she was here as an undergrad and we just really, really meshed with each other and had the same interests and she graduated probably 12 years ago and I met up with her a couple years ago and it was just so pleasurable to see how her career has developed and grown. And how much she appreciated the foundation she got here at Georgetown, which was then just the School of Nursing. So just seeing someone be so successful in her career and love to be a nurse and had wonderful experiences.

Interview by Katy Berk