Anyone can start at a UPMC School of Nursing and work their way up to leadership. With UPMC as your partner, the path to your future success in health care is just around the corner. No matter where you’re starting or where your destination may be, UPMC provides opportunities for staff to advance in their careers.
For Dr. Shakyryn Napier, DHSc, RN, CPN, NEA-BC, becoming the chief nursing officer (CNO) and vice president, Patient Care Services, UPMC Horizon and UPMC Jameson, was more than a career milestone; it was a homecoming. Shakyryn grew up in New Castle, Pa., and began her nursing journey close to home at the Saint Francis School of Nursing before she and her husband moved to Texas, where she built a career across labor and delivery, psychiatry, medical-surgical care, the emergency department and, eventually, nursing leadership. Years later when she came across an opening for the CNO role at UPMC Horizon and UPMC Jameson, the opportunity felt deeply personal. She took a chance, applied, and found herself returning to the community where her story began.
Shakyryn’s path into nursing was driven by both purpose and perseverance. As a teenager, she imagined becoming a doctor, but life shifted quickly — she became a mother at 15, had her second child during her senior year of high school, and her third child was born while Shakyryn was in nursing school. Nursing became both a calling and a practical path forward.
The care her family experienced when her brother, who had severe asthma, was hospitalized as a child, inspired her to pursue a path into nursing because she was drawn to the closeness nurses develop with patients and families. Shakyryn completed her diploma in nursing, began her career and, over time, found her way back to school while working nights, raising children, and relying on the support of her husband. Though it took years before the timing was right to return to school, she ultimately completed her bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, proof that career growth does not have to happen on anyone else’s timetable. Shakyryn shared, “Sometimes, it really just isn’t the right time — I had to take my time.”
As her career advanced, Shakyryn’s sense of purpose expanded. Early on in her career, her focus was direct patient care. In leadership, that purpose broadened into supporting her team who care for patients every day. She described her role through a simple but powerful idea, “I need to be able to help my team fill up their own cups, so that they can better support their patients.”
This belief guides the way she leads at UPMC, where she emphasizes mentorship, grace, and practical support for nurses at every stage of their careers. For those just entering the profession or continuing their education while balancing work and family, her advice is grounded in lived experience: lean on your support system and remember that sometimes growth requires patience as much as ambition. She said, “Give yourself grace. Sometimes we kind of close our own doors by being so hard on ourselves. Everybody is not at the same starting point. Sometimes, we have to start from where we are.”
That people-first mindset also defines Shakyryn’s proudest moments as a leader. While serving in Texas, she helped advocate for the removal of stigmatizing mental health questions from nursing license renewal forms after seeing how those questions created fear for nurses seeking care. Today, that same spirit of advocacy and compassion is visible in the way she leads back home. At UPMC Horizon and UPMC Jameson, she has embraced the chance to strengthen the hospitals’ connection with the surrounding community, from celebrating local traditions to championing the work happening inside its walls.
For Shakyryn, life-changing medicine is not only found in clinical outcomes, but in the heart staff bring to each patient’s healing journey. It is the joy of seeing someone recover, the commitment nurses show when they go above and beyond, and the knowledge that compassionate care can truly change a life.
From bedside care to executive leadership, Shakyryn’s nursing career reflects the kind of purpose-driven journey that is both hard-won and deeply rewarding. Across decades of service, she has cared for patients, advocated for her profession, mentored fellow nurses, and returned home to lead with empathy and vision. Her story is a reminder that nursing is not only a career, but a lifelong calling — one that, in Shakyryn’s case, has come full circle in the community where it first began.
Explore Your Future in Nursing at UPMC
UPMC’s Schools of Nursing can prepare you for a career in nursing through a variety of courses and valuable clinical experiences. Check out open nursing and patient care roles across the UPMC system on the UPMC Careers website.
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