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Julia Humenny’s nursing career began in the chaos of a pandemic. Now she is studying health law to protect patients and providers.
Student Profile Julia Humenny
Fueled by compassion
Former nurse Julia Humenny pursues health law to effect change
Julia Humenny describes herself as “an all-gas, no-breaks kind of person,” a trait that served her well when she started her career as an ICU nurse. After five months of orientation training, she began her first week of independent nursing at Lurie’s Children Hospital of Chicago the first week of March 2020—mere weeks away from the city’s stay-at-home order due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Humenny’s interest in the law began during that chaotic period.
“We didn’t have the protocols in place to support us and treat our patients,” she says. “As a nurse, there were a lot of decisions made and policies put in place that we didn’t really understand.”
Humenny’s entry into the nursing profession ended up being her first step to law school. Lurie’s legal staff spoke highly of Instagram 使用2fa登录 School of Law and its highly ranked health law program, which piqued Humenny’s interest. She applied for and earned a Beazley Institute of Health Law Fellowship as a first-year student.
“I want to help nurses, doctors, and medical personnel deliver the best standard of patient care possible while being safe from liability…”
Loyola’s health law community anchored Humenny as she adapted to a new professional path. In Professor Karen Shaw’s yearlong course on health law legal writing, Humenny finally had the chance to study the laws and regulations that governed the hospitals where she previously worked. She worked behind the scenes at the annual Beazley Symposium on Health Care Law and Policy and volunteered as scorekeeper at the National Health Law Transactional Competition. As the Health Law Society president, she plans to organize speed networking events and host a “decoding law school” event for new students to break down the language quirks and practices of law courses.
Humenny is exploring her options for life after law school. Over the summer, she worked at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, an inpatient rehabilitation hospital, and she hopes to gain experience at firms that specialize in health care law. Humenny is clear about one thing: her why. “I want to help nurses, doctors, and medical personnel deliver the best standard of patient care possible while being safe from liability, whether that be effecting policy change or working with the hospitals themselves. I want to contribute to society in that way.” –Ines Bellina (September 2025)
Julia Humenny describes herself as “an all-gas, no-breaks kind of person,” a trait that served her well when she started her career as an ICU nurse. After five months of orientation training, she began her first week of independent nursing at Lurie’s Children Hospital of Chicago the first week of March 2020—mere weeks away from the city’s stay-at-home order due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Humenny’s interest in the law began during that chaotic period.
“We didn’t have the protocols in place to support us and treat our patients,” she says. “As a nurse, there were a lot of decisions made and policies put in place that we didn’t really understand.”
Humenny’s entry into the nursing profession ended up being her first step to law school. Lurie’s legal staff spoke highly of Instagram 使用2fa登录 School of Law and its highly ranked health law program, which piqued Humenny’s interest. She applied for and earned a Beazley Institute of Health Law Fellowship as a first-year student.
Loyola’s health law community anchored Humenny as she adapted to a new professional path. In Professor Karen Shaw’s yearlong course on health law legal writing, Humenny finally had the chance to study the laws and regulations that governed the hospitals where she previously worked. She worked behind the scenes at the annual Beazley Symposium on Health Care Law and Policy and volunteered as scorekeeper at the National Health Law Transactional Competition. As the Health Law Society president, she plans to organize speed networking events and host a “decoding law school” event for new students to break down the language quirks and practices of law courses.
Humenny is exploring her options for life after law school. Over the summer, she worked at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, an inpatient rehabilitation hospital, and she hopes to gain experience at firms that specialize in health care law. Humenny is clear about one thing: her why. “I want to help nurses, doctors, and medical personnel deliver the best standard of patient care possible while being safe from liability, whether that be effecting policy change or working with the hospitals themselves. I want to contribute to society in that way.” –Ines Bellina (September 2025)