Joy Cameron-Lawson, MSN, FNP, NNP-BC, WON
Ph.D., Nursing Student
Class of 2020
Neonatal nurse practitioner Joy Cameron-Lawson already holds five degrees in her field, and she is set to earn her sixth from Barry’s Ph.D. program. Since childhood, Cameron-Lawson has known her passion for nursing and considers earning her terminal degree in the field a kind of destiny. “My personality cannot be just satisfied with leaving things as I found them,” she says. In her youth, she cared for orphaned animals and emulated the nurses who supplied vaccinations at her elementary school in her native Jamaica by pretending to vaccinate her young cousins and siblings. Motivation and support from her parents, particularly her determined and hardworking mother, inspired her to transform her childhood dreams into an impressive career.
Now, with 25 years of nursing experience behind her, Cameron-Lawson has become a master at balancing the rigors of her job with family life and higher professional pursuits. She credits her partnership with her husband—who holds a Ph.D. and Post-Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry—with helping her adapt to the demands of her career without missing out on time with her children and extended family.
True to her ambitious nature, Cameron-Lawson has not only advanced her career through continued education but also established herself as an innovator. “I developed a method to treat excoriated diaper dermatitis,” she says. She is working to patent the method, which “has the future potential to manage babies who are drug addicted or who are on chemotherapy or [who have] short-gut syndrome.” Identifying the need for such treatment in infant populations inspired her to earn her post-master’s in Wound Ostomy, which supplied her with the skills and knowledge to pursue a solution. As she proceeds through the patenting process and devotes attention to both her Ph.D. program and her full-time role at Jackson Memorial Hospital, Cameron-Lawson finds additional support through her Barry professors and colleagues. “My experience at Barry has left a lasting mark on me and will be carried over to my new career as an innovator, nursing professor, nursing scientist, and future alumni,” she says.
"I developed a method to treat excoriated diaper dermatitis,” she says. She is working to patent the method, which “has the future potential to manage babies who are drug addicted or who are on chemotherapy or [who have] short-gut syndrome"