By Alena Kuzub
In high school, Amanda Choflet was voted “most likely to cure cancer,” even though she hadn’t yet decided what she wanted to do with her life.
Her early exposure to cancer and nursing care came when her 3-year-old cousin was diagnosed with a kidney tumor. Choflet, who was 6 at the time, wasn’t allowed to visit her cousin in the intensive care unit. Instead, she sat in the waiting room, recording messages and songs for her cousin on a small tape deck, watching medical staff go about their work.
“Since then I’ve had a lifelong fascination with the health system and with the things that nurses and doctors, and the whole health care team could do to make other people feel physically and mentally better and help them heal from life-altering illnesses,” says Choflet, now dean of the School of Nursing at Northeastern University and assistant dean of its graduate programs.
Recently, Choflet was selected for the 2025 American Nurses Association Massachusetts Excellence in Nursing Education Award.