Honored Alum Maria Black, APRN, shares her story of how she unexpectedly found and then built a meaningful life through nursing.
Each year during Homecoming, BYU colleges recognize alumni for contributions to their fields, communities, and the university, and invite this group of alumni to give lectures on important lessons they have learned during their educational and professional paths. This year, the recipient of the Alumni Achievement Award for BYU College of Nursing was Dr. Maria Black (BS '92), who was invited to give a lecture on Thursday, October 8th. “Maria has been such an amazing nurse leader for so many years. She is truly an example to all of Nursing,” said Dean Jane Lassetter. While introducing Dr. Black at the lecture, Dean Lassetter reflected on how she is grateful for Dr. Black’s special habit of taking time to meet and welcome students during their first hospital rotations, telling the audience, “When you get a welcome by a big deal like Dr. Black, it’s pretty cool.”
During her lecture, The Unexpected Path to a Meaningful Life, Dr. Black shared how she unexpectedly “fell in love” with nursing and found meaning in her career, despite having a very different plan in mind.
From the time she was young, Dr. Black was set on going to medical school. She recalled growing up in Peru and having several experiences as a young girl that set her sights on becoming a physician. While doing genealogy as a child, she discovered that three of her five great uncles were physicians. “I was fascinated, totally fascinated by it,” and said she decided then that she would pursue a dream of going to medical school.
After getting surgery on a broken arm when she was 11 years old, she thought that being a surgeon might be her calling in life. When she was 12, her father brought her home a scalpel set. Though she reflects on this gift as being unconventional, she said “I was thrilled” to receive it. She explained how the scalpel set soon found a practical use of preparing beef hearts for a popular Peruvian dish, “anticuchos” for her family. To prepare the beef hearts, you must clean them, which includes taking out all the fibrous tissue within the heart. “I would spend hours cleaning the hearts. In my mind, I was dissecting these hearts.” “We ate a lot of anticuchos that year,” she said laughingly. “So, at 11, I had decided I would be a physician. At 12, I had decided I would be a surgeon, and after my scalpel experience, I decided I could be a cardiac surgeon,” Dr. Black remarked.
Before she graduated high school, she determined she wanted to attend BYU. She graduated at 16 years old and to submit her application to BYU, she needed her parents’ signature. However, she said due to her young age, “I could not persuade them to sign that BYU application.” Despite the detour, Dr. Black began working towards medical school in Peru. “It was a little painful,” she admitted. But she was still on track to accomplish her childhood dream of becoming a physician. After studying for a year to gain entrance, Dr. Black began medical school in Peru.
A year later, the opportunity to attend BYU unexpectedly arose again, so she decided to take it. While seeking her bachelor’s degree at BYU and after getting married, her husband suggested she consider studying nursing. “I never imagined becoming a nurse. I’ve got to be honest, I didn’t even know what nurses did,” she said.
At the time, nursing was a way to get her to medical school. But, she said, “by graduation, I had fallen in love with nursing and decided not to return to medical school.” For Dr. Black, this was a scary decision. She explained how she felt she had wandered away from a path that, in her mind, was the one to a meaningful life.
In her first week as a registered nurse, two of her heart failure patients passed away. Discouraged, she met with her manager to explain how this might not be the path for her. With some encouragement, the manager comforted her and urged her to continue. Through this experience, Dr. Black experienced a shift in perspective. She cited Edward Livingston Trudeau, a 19th century physician who believed that while a cure might not be possible, relief and comfort should always be sought. "[This] idea helped me see that nursing was not a detour from healing; it was a profound way to practice it," she said.
Dr. Black stated that purpose came into her life as she sought meaningful connections with others, continued to learn and grow, and as she sought to use her abilities to help others. "I no longer needed a perfect map," she said, "I just needed some values that would guide me through the detours that would come my way."
She went on to get a master’s and then a Doctor in Nursing Practice degree at the University of Utah and is currently the Chief Nursing Officer of the Intermountain Healthcare Utah Valley Hospital. Under her leadership, she spearheaded the development of acute care units during Utah Valley Hospital's replacement project. Additionally, her efforts have helped Utah Valley Hospital receive several national awards in clinical quality, patient safety, and patient care excellence.
Dr. Black closed with a line she attributed to Pablo Picasso: “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” She encouraged her audience to expect turns they never planned. She concluded her lecture by summarizing the biggest thing she’s learned over her now 34-year career in nursing, “Sometimes the road you did not plan becomes the road that allows you to give the greatest gifts away,” she said.