Description of the video:

I'm Kristen Levoy. I'm an assistant professor here at the Indiana University School of Nursing. I also have a joint appointment as a research scientist at Regenstrief Institute and their Indiana University Center for Aging Research. When I first started my clinical practice at Duke University Medical Center, I end up taking a job in a research clinical trials nurse, and I was just fascinated by being on the cutting edge of science and being there to help patients get the best treatment they could get through research clinical trials. And I think that maybe the combination of those experiences were the seeds that were planted that really made me want to go back and to do a PhD in nursing. I think my research as it's evolved over time is really focused on palliative care research and developing palliative care interventions. We live in a death-avoidance society. It's hard to have those difficult conversations. It's hard to talk about death. Palliative care is a model of clinical service delivery that allows patients to receive supportive care in the areas of spiritual care, psychosocial care, physical care symptom management and just quality of life and well-being. Palliative care delivery really provides an avenue for us to meet patients where they are and provide that sort of wraparound supportive care as they're grappling with chronic serious illness. If I could use one word to describe the research faculty here at IU School of Nursing, I would say vibrant. We have a really strong group of junior faculty members that are really dedicated to growing from within and supporting each other and also attracting new talent. I feel like we're really on the precipice of really growing in that in that area, and I'm excited to be a part of that community.