Jefferson Humanities Forum - Hadley Vlahos

Hadley Vlahos started documenting her experiences as a hospice nurse and stories of her patients on TikTok and now reaches over 1.5 million followers (June 2023) as “Nurse Hadley.” In her New York Times-bestselling memoir , Vlahos shares new stories of the most impactful experiences she has had with her patients—from the woman who never once questioned her faith until she was close to death, to the older man seeing visions of his late daughter, to the young patient who laments that she spent too much of her short life worrying about what others thought of her.

Hadley Vlahos’ childhood dream was to become a writer and when she started college, a career in nursing never crossed her mind. While in many families death is a taboo topic, in Vlahos’ family death was literally a part of life. Her grandparents were licensed embalmers and funeral directors and topics around dying were naturally part of dinnertime conversations. After high school Vlahos attended Florida State University and at nineteen she became a single mom. Her life was setting off on a different trajectory and she enrolled in nursing school to be able to support herself and her baby. After graduation Vlahos worked in immediate care and a nursing home, but it wasn’t until she started working in hospice care that she realized she was doing exactly what she was meant to do.

During 2024-2025, the Jefferson Humanities Forum hosts multidisciplinary scholars and thinkers to investigate the theme of Access.

Co-presented by Jefferson Humanities & Health and the Jefferson College of Nursing.

Jefferson students may count this event for credit towards the Asano Humanities & Health Certificate.

Learn more: Jefferson.edu/Humanities

Questions? Contact Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator, [email protected].

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Foerderer Auditorium, College Building, 1025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, United States