Jacob Sahakian
2014 UCLA Graduate Scholarship Recipient
University of California Los Angeles | School of Nursing
Jacob Sahakian is a recent graduate from the UCLA School of Nursing, Clinical Nursing (MECN) Program. Prior to attending Nursing School, he worked at a research laboratory at the UCLA School of Medicine assisting with research in developing novel vaccines for Mycobacterium turberculosis and Franciscella tularensis.
Jacob states, “my educational background in molecular and cellular biology at the University of California, Berkeley has fueled my love for science, however, I also felt the need to serve patients in a more hands on approach as well. After volunteering at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena and from my own personal experiences within the healthcare system, I discovered Nursing.”
While at Huntington Hospital, Jacob witnessed and was very impressed by the amount of compassion and care the nurses showed their patients. In July of 2010, Jacob himself became a patient at Huntington Hospital when he had to undergo a cardiac ablation procedure. The nurse that cared for him was very reassuring and comforting to him. She spent a lot of time at his bedside, whereas the physician would see him for a minute and then disappear. It was then that he know that he wanted to have a more personal impact on patients by becoming a nurse himself.
Jacob was a member of the Sigma Theta Tau honor society for Nursing and was also a member of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses.
Through Nursing, Jacob feels he is able to take care of patients, learn about medicine, and apply the scientific knowledge that he has developed over the years. There are so many opportunities with Nursing and he is truly excited for the future.
