Throughout her journey as a fertility nurse, Julissa has bonded with her patients and made many friends. Julissa has more than five years of experience in the fertility specialty. She is a registered nurse with an associate’s degree from the Borough of Manhattan Community College, and also holds a bachelor’s degree in health sciences from SUNY Stony Brook.

Julissa is unusual because she became interested in fertility problems before finishing her nursing degree, while working for a fertility pharmacy. She was interested in fertility and found herself researching different aspects of fertility treatment. “Oftentimes my nursing colleagues would make fun of me because

I wasn’t in their eyes doing real nursing responsibilities like CPR or starting IV’s,” she says. “In my eyes, while they were busy saving lives, I was helping create lives and making a difference in someone else’s life. The impact I have made on my patients makes me love what I do.”

Julissa thinks WIN provides great outreach to fertility patients. “Often nurses in the fertility center are overwhelmed and cannot attend to patients as they wish they could,” she says. “WIN Nurses give fertility patients an added resource of accessibility and a great resource as nurse advocates for their fertility treatment.”

Julissa says she has shared tears of joy with patients who have positive pregnancy tests, and tears of sadness with the negative ones. “I always keep giving words of encouragement, no matter what the outcome,” she says. “I always treat my patients just like I would like to be treated.”

When she isn’t working, Julissa spends time with her two daughters and her family, making sure her girls experience “the great things life has to offer,” she says.