On the oncology floor at UVA Manassas, Candy Medina was only weeks into her preceptorship as a student nurse. And for one chemotherapy patient and his wife, she quickly became indispensable.
It was the man’s first chemo treatment, and he was in physical and emotional distress after a few hard days. Medina and her supervising nurse took the time to listen, explain, and reassure. When Medina returned the next week, the couple said, “We want no other nurses but you two—you can’t leave us now,” and made a point of praising their care to hospital management.
That stuck with Medina, who will graduate this month with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) from George Mason University. “That made me feel like I’m doing the work I set out to do,” she said. “The whole point of nurses is we’re advocates for our patients to make them feel heard.”
This spring, George Mason’s College of Public Health recognized Medina with the BSN Undergraduate Award for Excellence in Clinical Practice, citing that example of her skill and compassion.
Born in the Dominican Republic, Medina moved to Virginia with her family at age 12, learning English from scratch. Today she and her husband, who just celebrated 21 years of marriage, are raising three sons in Woodbridge.
Medina had always envisioned a future in medicine, but she made a deliberate choice to pause her ambitions when her sons were little. “I wanted to be hands-on with my kids’ lives and go back to school when they started elementary,” she said. Once the timing aligned, nursing offered a practical, meaningful path. “In essence, nursing is not just a profession—it’s a commitment to caring, healing, and improving lives at every level of the health care system.”
Her long-term goal is to become a nurse practitioner serving military families, a community she knows well from both her husband and stepfather, both Navy veterans.
When her previous nursing program abruptly closed, Medina transferred to George Mason in summer of 2023. During her program she worked at hospitals across Northern Virginia—UVA Prince William, Inova Fairfax, Sentara, and the Mason and Partners (MAP) clinics—gaining experience in pediatrics labor and delivery, psychiatric care, and medical-surgical nursing.
George Mason’s hands-on learning technologies also left a strong impression. In simulations, Medina practiced health assessments on highly realistic manikins, and in the college’s Lab for Immersive Technologies and Simulation, she donned a VR headset to care for a virtual patient, complete with vital signs and medication needs. “It was amazing,” she said. “It helps you practice before you even set foot in a hospital.”
Medina also credits School of Nursing Assistant Professor Amanda Brooks for “always making herself available,” she said. “If we needed help with anything—dosage calculations, test reviews, anything—she was there.”
At home, Medina had her family rooting for her—including her oldest son, Giovanni, who’s been attending George Mason alongside her, studying criminology and pre-law.
“Nursing is one of the hardest degrees to get,” she said. “But if you have the right people around you, you can get there. I’ve been lucky.”