Building a Career in Nursing with an LFS Foundation

About

Name	Diane Obra
Title	Registered Nurse
Company	Vancouver Coastal Health
Grad year	2021
Program	Bachelor of Science in Food, Nutrition and Health
Major	Food, Nutrition and Health (General)

Diane Obra has built a dynamic and purpose-driven career rooted in healthcare. Based in Vancouver, Diane is a Registered Nurse with Vancouver Coastal Health. Her academic journey reflects a strong commitment to patient care, lifelong learning, and adaptability, combining a foundation in nutrition and health with hands-on clinical practice. Described as hardworking, ambitious, and kind, Diane continues to deepen her expertise as she works full-time while pursuing further training in intensive care nursing.

Diane is currently balancing her full-time work as a Registered Nurse with part-time studies to become an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) RN. Through a recent conversation, she reflected on her journey, her evolving goals, and the importance of balance and community in a demanding profession.

When you were a student, what did you think you wanted your career to be or look like? Does this still reflect your wants or needs?  

When I was a student, I wanted to become a doctor (physician). Currently, I am focused in my career as a registered nurse, but if opportunity presents itself in the future to become a doctor, I would welcome it. 

To be honest, I struggled a lot academically in my first two years of university. It was difficult to transition from having a classroom with ~30 students in high school to ~300 in university. I also worked part-time, lived on campus, and became a member of LFS|US and UBC Kababayan Club. My grades were not competitive enough to apply to med schools so I decided to shift my focus. Ultimately, I chose nursing with the hopes of improving my GPA and then later applying to med schools. After working as a registered nurse (RN), I realized that it’s an amazing, although challenging, profession and that there are different paths I can take whether it be bedside nursing, public health, management, education, etc. Another dream of mine is to have a family and I think I’ll be able to have a good work-life balance growing both my career in nursing and my family.

From your experience, what has been the value of having an LFS degree? 

Having an LFS degree allows me to utilize my knowledge of nutrition to work with diverse groups of people in workplace settings. Before I switched into nursing, I worked as a food service supervisor at the Fraser Health Authority, which was my introduction to working in healthcare. In this role, I learned to manage people double or triple my age, while applying food safety principles in a professional setting. Afterwards, I worked at BC Children’s Hospital as a Milk Handling Technician – essentially working in a lab setting to create feeds for babies in the NICU. Now, as a registered nurse, I work closely with dietitians to optimize my patients’ healing and nutrition.

Are there any resources you would recommend for students who are looking to enter your industry and/or profession? 

In general, as early as possible, it is best to look into the pre-requisites of the program you are interested in and start working towards meeting those requirements. If you are interested in nursing, speak with a nurse and/or apply for a shadow shift in a health authority where you can experience what a nurse’s shift is like. 

How do you balance life and work in order to prevent burnout?

Nursing is a very difficult job and it is stressful physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. To prevent burnout and keep a balanced-life, I make plans ahead of time to hang out with my friends, visit my family at least once a week, and work out at least three times a week. At work, I bond with my coworkers over our work experiences and we help each other out when things get tough. 

When it comes to your future, what are you most excited about? 

Right now I am working full-time as a registered nurse (RN) and studying part-time to become an intensive care unit RN. I am most excited about deepening my nursing knowledge, being a part of my patients’ healing journey, and exploring different career paths within nursing. 

What was one of your most meaningful experiences at UBC? And why? 

One of my most meaningful experiences at UBC was working at Blue Chip Cafe as a customer service representative, and then later as a supervisor. Most of the employees were also UBC students and we all came from different faculties. It was great getting to know other people outside of LFS, while creating meaningful friendships. 

My coworkers and I shared at least one thing in common: We like coffee/caffeinated drinks. In life we may think that it is hard to connect to other people, but there’s always at least one thing that we share in common, you just have to dig deeper. Knowing this, it makes it easier for me to build a therapeutic relationship with my patients and provide better care for them. It is a skill that I use in every day life as well.