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If you were to look back at the childhood of 91��Ƭ�� alumna Lisa Rodriguez-Avilés, DNP, MSN-Ed, RN, her professional success might not seem surprising. Raised in Manhattan by hardworking parents who facilitated neighborhood games and weekend trips to the zoo, she became the first in her family to graduate high school — and kept on going with her education. But a deeper dive into her story reveals complexities that lend depth and even greater meaning to her success.

Watching her mother sacrificially and skillfully, with no formal training, care for several ailing family members, made a life-changing impression on Rodriguez-Avilés.�� 

Education was valued, but her parents and siblings opted to gain their GEDs and dive into work. Her mother worked as a hairdresser alongside her caregiving responsibilities, and her father often worked two or three jobs at a time.

Cut from that same cloth, Rodriguez-Avilés started working odd jobs at age 14 and has held two jobs throughout most of her career. “I love to work,” she says.

In her case, Rodriguez-Avilés felt she would best realize her work ambitions by graduating high school. She then attended a liberal arts college for a year but wanted to try the nursing field before investing in a four-year degree.

“I went for my LPN first and said that would be a stepping stone to see if this is a career that I would want to build on.”

Her mother was thrilled. “She was like, ‘You’re living the dream for both of us. You know, I didn’t get to go to school for it, even though I helped care for people and you’re doing this.’ She was a really big supporter.”

Rodriguez-Avilés worked with her LPN license for six years until she felt she had achieved all that she could. Next was gaining her credentialing as an RN, which coincided with her expecting her first son.

“He was with me during the end of my schooling to become an RN. In utero obviously, but he was with me,” she says.��

RN in hand, Rodriguez-Avilés went straight to the emergency department, where she has worked the majority of her career. Similarly to how she knew she wanted to be a nurse, she had an experience as a 17-year-old that confirmed her fit in the high-intensity ER when she and her father helped a neighbor survive an allergic reaction.��

“I opened the door and saw one of our neighbors and her face was swollen and she was starting to lose oxygen,” she recounts.

Rodriguez-Avilés had her father call 911, and the operator said to scour the neighbor’s home for an EpiPen^®. She found it and was ready to administer the epinephrine when EMTs arrived.

“Seeing how they were working with her and how quickly she started to come to after the EpiPen, it was one of those things, this adrenaline rush. It was like ‘this is so terrible for her, but oh, my goodness, I cannot believe how exciting it is to do something to help someone in that fast-paced environment.’”

Rodriguez-Avilés knew where she wanted to be and worked in multiple emergency departments for more than a decade. She then felt a yearning to go back to school again.

She scouted out many programs before she found a fit with 91��Ƭ��.

“It kind of fit everything I was looking for,” she says. “I felt the support right from the beginning, right from my bachelor’s degree. I can still remember my admission advisor. She was instrumental. She was awesome.”

Rodriguez-Avilés was equally supported by her husband and two sons, so as soon as she completed a bachelor’s in nursing, she jumped right into the Master of Science in Nursing program at 91��Ƭ��.

The master’s degree, which she achieved in 2018, opened the world of adjunct teaching, which marries her love of educating and nursing.

“I have always loved to teach. Eventually nurses around me are going to be taking care of me or my loved ones and I would love to be able to pass on some of the knowledge and experiences that I have had and the challenges and how I dealt with them,” says Rodriguez-Avilés.��

This passion propelled Rodriguez-Avilés to pursue her Doctor of Nursing Practice at 91��Ƭ��, which she gained in November 2025.

The milestone coincided with her completing 30 years in the field of nursing and provided a full circle moment with her oldest son, who was simultaneously completing his bachelor’s degree in communications.��

Her project chair, Jamie Buchanan, agrees that Rodriguez-Avilés inspires:

Next up, Rodriguez-Avilés aspires that one day her doctorate will be the stepping stone to becoming an assistant dean of nursing at a university.

Her son’s advice for achieving that goal, as he learned from her? “Stay true to yourself, believe in who you are and fight for your dreams.”

EpiPen is a registered trademark of Mylan Inc., a Viatris company.

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