September 3, 2025

Shaya Cohen won’t forget his first day in Philadelphia for the NP bootcamp. It was a hot summer day with temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. What’s there to do in Philly during a two-hour break during bootcamp? Cohen checked the map on his phone and got the perfect idea: running up the Rocky Steps. Once he reached the top, still wearing his nursing uniform, he realized this wasn’t the best decision. His phone was overheating, he started sweating bullets, and he got dizzy. When he came to his senses, he found himself in the Parkway Visitor Center, with people applying cold water to his neck. Usually, he’s the one caring for patients.

Even though Cohen always felt the urge to help people, nursing wasn’t at the forefront of his mind. At West Coast University in Los Angeles, Cohen was on the pre-med track until he discovered that a big portion of the curriculum conflicted with his religious beliefs.

“As an orthodox jew ...I’m not allowed to be in contact with a dead body. I couldn’t do the cadaver labs for med school, so my rabbi and I tried to find another route, and I liked the idea of nursing, being there for the patient, caring for them,” said Cohen.

He switched majors and found another passion — nursing. Having moved to the East Coast, Cohen enrolled in Drexel University's online family nurse practitioner (NP) program with an emergency specialization, a decision he never regretted. Despite living in New York, he favored Drexel over a lot of local schools.

“I was very impressed by the responsiveness of the faculty during my application process ... It was just a really warm feeling, and I’m very happy with my decision,” Cohen said.

He can only find positive words when talking about his graduate program. The fact that it is tailored to real-world emergency work was something Cohen was looking for in the first place.

“The coursework combines advanced primary care training with focused emergency content, which feels very relevant to the unpredictable and high-pressure settings we’ll be working in. It gives us the flexibility to practice broadly as family NPs while also building a skill set that prepares us for acute and critical situations,” said Cohen.

He finds the support the faculty gives online is outstanding. “Drexel is geared to help you succeed, and the professors will go above and beyond to help you do that.”

The resources of the Health Science Building and the live actor simulation he experienced during his week in Philadelphia helped him immensely before entering clinicals.

“You’re actually dealing with patients. It just humanized it and turned it into an active learning session ... You have to tell someone that they have cancer, and they start crying. It shows how much of an impact you can have on somebody’s life and their outlook,” said Cohen.

In the future, Cohen sees himself working in emergency medicine. While being enrolled in full-time classes and clinicals, he also volunteers for EMS in New York, where he quickly realized that the big city life in Manhattan is a very different breed than in Los Angeles.

“The ratios here are wild. In the emergency room in California, you have a ratio of one nurse to four patients. In New York, I’ve had up to 20 patients myself,” Cohen said.

It is a high-pressure job. Nevertheless, the 28-year-old loves what he does, and he is glad that his classes at Drexel prepare him for his clinical shifts as well as for EMS.

“Emergency medicine is so versatile. It’s as if I’m studying at work because of what I’m doing... I’m dealing with everyone, so I actually encounter a lot of patient scenarios that I’m currently studying about,” Cohen said.

He can’t wait for the career helping people in need that awaits him after graduating from Drexel. And if you’ve ever found yourself gasping for breath at the top of the Rocky Steps on a sweltering summer day, chances are, Cohen has the answers you’re looking for.

Story by: Raphael Bartell, communication '27