Michaela Serafica ’24 MSN: Putting the Global Health Track Into Practice

May 15, 2024
The Yale School of Nursing (YSN) Class of 2024 holds the distinction of earning diplomas during the school’s centennial year. As graduating students prepare for the conferral of degrees on May 20, YSN is checking in with just a few of the extraordinary students adding hoods to their regalia this year.

Michaela Serafica

Michaela Serafica ’24 MSN

Hometown: San Francisco, CA

Specialty: Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Primary Care


While a student at YSN, you traveled internationally several times. Could you describe a significant excursion and why it resonated with you? 

It’s hard to pick just one! However, through my travel to Singapore, I was able to visit my ancestral land in the Philippines for the very first time. As students in the Global Health track, we delved into the intricate interplay of religion, colonization, and neoliberal economics and their roles in the evolution of modern nursing.  
 
With this lens in mind, my time in the Philippines was one of deep contemplation about my role as a Filipino-American nurse whose family immigrated here through the nursing labor diaspora—a pipeline that was shaped by U.S. imperialism. Although I’ve lived in the United States my entire life, I feel a sense of responsibility in thinking about the issues created by this pipeline, such as how it contributes to the Philippine health worker shortage and the role of remittances in the country’s economy. This is just one example of how my experiences in the Global Health track helped me think about the role of nursing in a multitude of global health issues. 
 
As the world faces the existential threat of climate change at highly variable and inequitable rates, we need to not only ask ourselves how we can create solutions, but who these potential solutions benefit within these global health care systems.
 
I’m grateful that I was given this space—and opportunities to travel to Malaysia, Indonesia, Cabo Verde, and Ghana—to raise these questions and begin piecing the puzzle together. 

What are your post-commencement plans?

I’m still exploring options but hopefully I will be somewhere with lots of sunshine! 

Your class applied to nursing school and started coursework in the teeth of the Covid-19 pandemic, adding some really challenging layers to an already intense program. But you did it! Is there anyone special you would like to thank?

It truly took a village to help me along my nursing journey. A special thank you to my mom, my partner Austin, and my siblings Samantha, Jason, and Sabrina.


More Commencement Coverage

To read more student profiles and advice from six decades of YSN alumni to the Class of 2024, please visit the Commencement 2024 sidebar on the left (mobile devices, scroll down).

For more information on Yale’s commencement festivities, please visit commencement.yale.edu.