Zeynep Inanoglu ' 21
Zeynep Inanoglu ' 21 is a registered nurse at Yale New Haven Health pursuing her master’s degree at Yale University School of Nursing to become a pediatric nurse practitioner 在初级保健方面.
“I am deeply committed to caring for, educating, and supporting children and their
families,” 说 Inanoglu, who is especially interested in working with refugee and
immigrant populations and LGBTQIA+ families. Her commitment extends to promoting lifelong
nutritional health, encouraging children to adopt healthy eating and exercise habits
as preventative measures against disease and eating disorders.
Inanoglu is also a poet, with her first collection of poetry, "Patterns of Blood," forthcoming (Mouthfeel Press, 2024). The chapbook grew out of the capstone project she completed in her senior year. Growing up in a small Turkish community on the outskirts of Boston, Inanoglu majored in 英语 language and literature at Skidmore, with the intention of being a writer. In her sophomore year, she took a marine biology course and realized how much she enjoyed science. She began taking pre-med courses in addition to continuing to focus on her 英语 classes. She also took advantage of opportunities to shadow an OB/GYN doctor, a urologist physician assistant, and a pediatric nurse practitioner in Boston.
“I had not considered nursing in thinking about options in the medical field,” Inanoglu 说. “But I was really intrigued with the holistic care approach and how close the nurse practitioner was to her patients, and that’s when I decided this is something 我想做.”
During her senior year, Inanoglu participated in the New York State Summer Writers Institute program on campus. For two months, she participated in in-depth creative writing workshops with well-known poets, such as Campbell McGrath. 在那段时间里， she read books like “Being Mortal” by surgeon Atul Gawande and “Cutting for Stone,” cowritten by physician Abraham Verghese.
“That’s when I realized I could do both,” 说 Inanoglu, who won the College’s Distinguished Writing Award in Poetry in her senior year. “I could hold on to my passion for writing and also fulfill my purpose in medicine.”
