Victoria Winogora, PhD, APRN, AGACNP-BC, is a palliative care nurse practitioner, and postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on end-of-life care for individuals with cognitive disabilities and Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD). She has utilized several CMS datasets to explore differences in hospice enrollment and hospice care, including location of death, for individuals with cognitive disability and ADRD. Though her work is largely quantitative, she has participated in multiple qualitative projects focused on end-of-life care, and several informatics studies. She is currently working on projects that assess the impact staffing and work environment have on end-of-life care. Dr. Winogora received her BA from the University of Chicago, her BSN from the University of Rochester, her MSN from the University of Pennsylvania, and her PhD from Columbia University. In her free time Dr. Winogora enjoys baking, reading a good thriller, and taking her son to the park. 

What do you wish someone would have told you when you were in high school?

What i wish someone told me in high school: It's okay to take your own path, and it's okay to not follow a predetermined path, but rather carve your own. I spent a lot of time worried because I didn't follow the same path as so many of my peers, but I still got to where I was supposed to be, and like where I ended up - it just certainly was a little messy along the way. And I wish I knew that was okay!