Nadia Ohene-Nyako, CRNP

“Hi, my name is Nadia Ohene-Nyako and I’m a nurse practitioner at Southern Cancer Center in Huntsville. I’m born and raised in Huntsville, Alabama. When I was about ten, I got my tonsils taken out and I had the most amazing nurse and I told my parents, I said “I want to be like her.” She just made sure I was okay the whole entire time. Made sure I had my popsicles after I got my tonsils taken out and it was just that kindness and compassion, and I just knew I wanted to be somebody like her.

I went to the University of Alabama in Huntsville, got my bachelors of science there. Did a little bit of inpatient and then I got the opportunity with oncology, in 2017, I believe, and that was home. Then I decided I wanted to advance my career, so I went back to the University of Alabama and that’s when I got my masters. Then again an opportunity came to be a nurse practitioner in oncology, and they always say “you always go back home” and that’s where I ended up, back home in oncology.

At Southern Cancer Center, if you have a question someone’s always there to answer it and someone’s always there to provide reassurance and make you feel better. Having somebody from treatment room nurses to financial services, even front desk, it’s just nice that they always have somebody they can go to. I feel rewarded when I go to work like I’m actually making a difference in these patients’ lives. They get one of the biggest diagnosis of their life and you build that relationship with them because they spend a lot of time with you. They trust you to take of them, so it means a lot. You pretty much become family.”