#MeetUsMonday - Meet RN to BSN Student Mustafa

Meet RN to BSN Student Mustafa.

Passionate pickleball player, paddleboarder, and native of Cairo, Egypt, who grew up 10 minutes from the Nile and demonstrated for democracy during the Arab Spring. Adores Mediterranean food, especially kunafa, and the middle child of five siblings who completed medical school in Egypt, earned asylum in the U.S. in 2023, and became a nurse in 2025 after graduating from Piedmont Virginia Community College. A full-time clinician in UVA Health’s TCVICU and an incoming RN to BSN student in the Charlottesville cohort. 

HIS PATH TO NURSING

“I’m from Cairo, just like 50% of all Egyptians. My mom is a teacher, and my dad was a lab technician, and I’m the middle of five children. My older sister, who’s now a veterinarian, was my role model growing up. I grew up speaking only Arabic; English was my second language, much like people in the United States take Spanish as a second language during high school. My first year of medical school, everything I was learning was in Latin and English, which was hard. I was like, ‘Oh, I cannot do this!’ My sister, though she was in school herself and married and pregnant, she found the time to encourage me. Without her, I wouldn’t have finished.

“Before I started nursing school, I thought, ‘OK, nursing is going to be easy.’ But to be honest, once I got involved in the program, I found there’s a huge difference in taking care of a patient as a physician versus taking care of a patient as a nurse."

Mustafa Abdelhamid, RN to BSN student and UVA Health ICU nurse

“I graduated from medical school in Egypt in 2014, got my license, and came straight to UVA School of Medicine to do cancer research with the late Dr. John Herr. Our project was to find antibodies and hook them to a drug that would kill breast and uterine cancer cells without affecting normal cells. In Egypt, there isn’t much funding for research, which is why I sought the experience in the U.S. Unfortunately, though, I couldn’t finish because there was a lot of political drama at home, and I was so worried about my family, and it put pressure on me. The last time I went to Egypt, in 2016, they arrested me for being part of demonstrations against the Mubarak regime. Once the coup happened in 2013 [that ousted democratically elected Mohammed Morsi from power], Egypt went backwards, and government and military officials wanted to see exactly who was involved. It was a big mess.

“It’s been 10 years since I’ve been back. I can’t go back. But all my family is still there; they are safe. We talk all the time on WhatsApp and Facebook. It took some time, but I was granted asylum in the United States in 2023.

“Charlottesville and PVCC have been very generous with me . . . I couldn’t ask for anything more. I’ve met some wonderful people in this community during my time here, dramatic as it’s been. There are wonderful people in this town. My experiences have showed me how beautiful people are here.”

ON MOVING FROM MEDICINE TO NURSING

“Before I started nursing school, I thought, ‘OK, nursing is going to be easy.’ But to be honest, once I got involved in the program, I found there’s a huge difference in taking care of a patient as a physician versus taking care of a patient as a nurse.

“As a nurse, I literally live with the patient during my shift. I’m more involved. You have to build rapport with them, make them trust you and share things with you that they might not share with a physician. You’re a part of their life, and, many times, across many shifts.

“It’s really opened my eyes to the idea that I can’t just look to my medical knowledge and clinical skills; I have to pay attention to the human factors, how to address what the patient needs not just medically but what their psychological status is, what the family dynamic is, and how I can know all these things and aim my care toward the patient’s recovery.

“The other thing that was totally new to me were cultural differences. In Charlottesville, we have different cultural communities, and that’s something I never experienced practicing back home. I need to pay attention to that here. When I have a patient from a specific culture, how do I address that? In the clinical side, I feel confident, but these other aspects I’ve had to learn.”

EGYPTIAN AND AMERICAN HEALTHCARE . . . and WHY ICU?

“It’s definitely more advanced here. Also, here I’m more connected to my patients, more than I’d been back home, and there are also a lot of resources here that help you as a nurse to take care of this patient in the best way possible.

“As a nurse, I literally live with the patient during my shift. I’m more involved. You have to build rapport with them, make them trust you and share things with you that they might not share with a physician. You’re a part of their life, and, many times, across many shifts. It’s really opened my eyes to the idea that I can’t just look to my medical knowledge and clinical skills; I have to pay attention to the human factors."

“Also, here, you work as a team. I love the dynamics on my unit. During my externship at UVA Health, I’d see the whole team rush into a room during a code . . . they don’t ask questions that aren’t needed, they quickly integrate, and don’t wait for instructions but each has a role. I like that dynamic. The TCVICU [thoracic cardiovascular ICU] where I work is a post-surgical unit where many patients have just had open heart surgery or heart transplants and come from the OR. We have to pay attention to a lot of hemodynamic situations, on top of infection control.

“I’m not going to lie. I like complexity. I like challenges. I wanted to work somewhere where your team has your back; you’re not fully relying on your clinical experience and knowledge, and you’re not on your own. You rely on your team. That’s the biggest thing in an ICU.”

HIS PROFESSIONAL PLANS

“I finished my nursing externship at UVA Health in the TCVICU earlier in 2025. I talked to my manager and said, ‘I like the team here; what can I do to be a part?’ She said, ‘Just finish nursing school.’ It’s going to be fun. It’s going to put be a step toward earning my doctorate in nursing, once I finish my BSN.

“Educationally, I’d like to teach at PVCC. My experience there was the best educational experience I’ve had. I’d also like to earn a doctorate and become a nurse practitioner in critical care and anesthesiology. That’s my ultimate goal.”

UVA HEALTH IN ONE WORD?

“TEAMWORK-ORIENTED. It fascinates me how the collaboration between the teammates—everyone, intensivists, 24-7, nurses, CNAs, PCTs, everyone, even managers—they’re attentive and there when you need them. It’s amazing how this unit works. And this is a perfect team for a patient population at high risk for so many things, coming out of the OR. I cannot wait to be part of it.”

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