From mentee to mentor: How Roxana Chicas embraces the Emory community

Roxana Chicas may be a star professor and researcher at Emory, but she's also a bedrock of the campus community.

She began her Emory journey more than a decade ago as an undergraduate nursing student, and she hasn't left since. She went on to earn a PhD from the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, where she now teaches as an assistant professor.

Chicas, who researches the effects of heat on farm workers, says her experience receiving mentorship as an Emory student, and then offering it as a professor, has transformed her life.

One case is especially meaningful: While working on her PhD, Chicas's research began to dovetail with the big-data expertise of her professor Vicki Hertzberg, director of the Emory Center for Data Science. The two began collaborating, and Hertzberg was soon a valued mentor to Chicas.

Years later, when Hertzberg experienced kidney failure, Chicas offered to see if she could serve as a potential donor. Of all who were tested, Chicas was the closest match.

In 2022, Chicas donated her kidney to Hertzberg - an operation completed by Emory Healthcare.

For Chicas, the experience reflects the full-circle support of the Emory community. It is a story of research, mentorship, medical excellence and, above all, friendship.

Every day, Chicas shares lessons from her own mentors, like Hertzberg, with her current students. She involves graduate students in her research and helps shape the next generation of experts as the director of Emory's Nursing Honors Program.

Watch the video to hear more about Chicas's meaningful relationship with Hertzberg.

Video by Corey Broman-Fulks and Sarah Woods, Emory Photo/Video.