An internationally recognized expert in pediatric and congenital cardiovascular health, Pike serves as the first pediatric nurse practitioner on the American Heart Association’s national council, where she represents nursing perspectives in cardiovascular and stroke disease care. Her appointment at the Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing marks a significant milestone in the school’s development as a leading destination for research in nursing and healthcare.
The path that led Pike to UC Irvine contains a story both aspirational and inspirational, and perhaps not surprisingly, began with her own personal health challenges. Born in the Erie Canal town of Rome, New York,
Pike spent the early years of her life near Utica before moving to Pennsylvania, close to the Ohio border outside of Pittsburgh, where her father’s job as an airplane mechanic required the family to move.
Her early years were characterized by personal resilience. “I was born with a birth defect,” she recalls. “It was something I tried to hide as a teenager, but it also helped me empathize deeply with children suffering from congenital heart disease. I knew what it was like to feel different, to be treated differently. That experience fueled my passion for nursing, wanting to help others, especially working with kids who faced similar health challenges.”
After completing high school, Pike attended nearby Penn State Beaver, one of Penn State’s 20 campuses, where she excelled not only academically but also athletically. In the absence of a women’s golf team on campus, she played for the men’s before moving to Penn State’s main campus to join the women’s team. There, she initially pursued a degree in biology before transitioning to nursing—a decision influenced by her admiration as a young teenager watching the 1970s TV medical drama Emergency! and its charismatic and competent nurse character, Dixie McCall.
The first member of her family to finish college, Pike graduated with a nursing degree in 1985. She was drawn to critical care for its fast pace and the necessity for sharp, quick thinking. “I enjoyed the challenge and the sense of urgency,” she explains. Her first position was at the Hershey Medical Center in Pennsylvania, where she worked in a 60-bed adult ICU. It was here that she gravitated toward cardiac care, especially post-operative cardiac surgery—a field that required the kind of rapid, decisive action she thrived on.
But a turning point came when her unit began caring for pediatric heart surgery patients, children who needed to be close to the OR due to their critical condition. That’s when Pike volunteered to be trained to take care of pediatric patients. “Back in the 1980s, heart surgery for kids wasn’t what it is like today,” Pike explains. “The children were often very sick after surgery. Sometimes, they needed to be taken back to the operating room multiple times for post-operative bleeding during their recovery.”
Pike was one of five nurses at the hospital who received special training in post-cardiac operative pediatric patients. “I wasn’t a pediatric nurse from the very beginning but an adult nurse that transitioned into pediatric nursing,” she says. “It was even more challenging for me. The patients were usually quite unstable; you had to be fast on your feet and really had to understand congenital cardiac physiology.”
This new direction led her to UCLA’s cardiopulmonary master’s degree program in 1990, marking the beginning of her long association with the West Coast. At UCLA, Pike gained invaluable experience working in a combined cardiac ICU for adults and children, enhancing her skills and knowledge in both fields. After earning her master’s degree, she became a nurse practitioner in pediatric heart surgery at Stanford University, working for a decade under the mentorship of famed cardiac surgeons Drs. Bruce Reitz and Robert “Bobby” Robbins.
“It was at Stanford that I first got involved in research,” Pike recounts. “They treated me like a medical resident, teaching me advanced skills, including assisting in the operating room closing chests post-surgery. This experience was transformative.”
According to Pike, what became a lifelong dedication to researching the long-term impacts of and treatments for congenital heart disease initially arose from frequent and urgent questions asked by the families she worked with. “Parents of children with single ventricle heart disease often asked me, ‘What will my child’s future be like?’” she recalls. “Back in the early ’90s, we had little long-term data on quality of life or future healthcare needs. This is what drove me to explore health outcomes and health-related quality of life for these patients.”
While at Stanford, Pike traveled to Moscow and St. Petersburg in 1996 and 1997 to perform open-heart surgery on children with congenital heart disease, teaching the Russian physicians and nurses intra-operative and post-operative management, and giving patients the opportunity to get surgery which many would not have been able to afford. In 2002, she traveled with a team to Bangalore, where she performed complex congenital heart disease surgeries.
Understanding that proper research required formal training, Pike returned to UCLA for her PhD in 2003, working part-time at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) while studying full-time. Her doctoral research focused on health-related quality of life and neurocognitive outcomes in children with single-ventricle heart disease. By 2007, she had her PhD, and she continued her clinical work at CHLA in a post-doctoral role while contributing to a significant multi-site surgical clinical trial—the first of its kind in congenital heart disease.
In 2009, Pike transitioned to a full-time academic role at UCLA while continuing to practice clinically at CHLA. Her dual roles allowed her to stay connected to her research subjects, ensuring her work remained relevant and impactful.
As a new assistant professor, Pike was mentored by Dr. Mary Woo, now a professor emerita at UCLA, and herself an internationally renowned expert in heart failure and brain injury. Together, they explored the neurobiological impacts of congenital heart disease. Woo was particularly impressed by the fact that Pike’s formidable talents as a researcher were equalled by her abilities in the classroom. “At UCLA she had the highest teaching evaluations at our school,” Woo recalls, adding that Pike created the university’s first dual primary and acute care pediatric nurse practitioner program.
“Nancy is incredibly empathetic and intelligent,” Woo says. “She not only uncovered critical insights into how congenital heart disease impacts adolescent brains but also developed innovative interventions to help these young patients thrive. She is known not just as the international expert in the heart itself but also the brain and congenital heart disease.”
One particularly groundbreaking research project involved studying cognitive and memory deficits in adolescents with congenital heart disease. Pike discovered that these patients often had smaller hippocampal and mammillary body volumes and compromised brain functions, possibly due to chronic hypoxemia and surgical interventions. A pilot study using computerized cognitive training demonstrated significant improvements in attention and memory among these teenagers, paving the way for larger, NIH-funded studies. After 15 years and numerous accolades, including pioneering a dual pediatric nurse practitioner program and leading multiple NIH-funded studies, she began seeking new challenges.
“When the opportunity at UC Irvine presented itself, it seemed like a natural progression,” Pike notes. “The role of associate dean for research allows me to shape the direction of nursing research, mentoring early-career faculty and fostering an environment where groundbreaking research
can thrive.”
The Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing is already recognized for its commitment to excellence in nursing education and practice, but Pike’s appointment is expected to elevate its standing even further. “Nancy Pike is nationally and internationally recognized as an innovative leader in cardiovascular nursing research,” says Mark Lazenby, the school’s dean. “Her research in cognitive deficits and brain structure in adolescents with congenital heart disease is truly groundbreaking. As the school’s research dean, she will use her knowledge and skills in nursing research to elevate our school’s research.”
As Pike begins her new chapter at UC Irvine, she says her priority will be mentoring early-career faculty, assisting the senior faculty with developing their research, submitting grants, educating and teaching as well as helping advance the school’s PhD program. “I am slowly developing a program to streamline grants submissions as well as educating faculty on various aspects of research and funding opportunities,” she says.
Indeed, mentorship is a personal career commitment that Pike made to her own mentor, Woo, who took time to show her how to successfully apply for the highly competitive research grants that allowed her to advance so far in her career. “I said to her early on, ‘What can I ever do to repay you?’” Pike recalls. “She said, ‘Pay it forward; if you see an assistant professor trying to get data or submit grants, show them how.’”
Despite her busy academic schedule, Pike continues to practice nursing at CHLA once or twice a month, maintaining her focus on the central mission that has driven her work for decades: improving the quality of life for vulnerable young patients. “My journey has always been about understanding and advocating for those with congenital heart disease, ensuring that they live full, rich lives despite their health challenges.”
