By Sarah Morgan Johnson and Anabelle Howze
University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing Master of Science in Nursing Family Nurse Practitioner Specialty graduate Colette Nelson, MSN, RD, RN, CDCES (MSN 2024), dreamed of a career in health care from a young age, but her battle with diabetes motivated her to turn a childhood aspiration into reality.
When Nelson was a young child, her father was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. She notes that her father’s diagnoses marked a large shift in her family, as he changed his diet and underwent various treatment plans. When she was 12 years old, Nelson received an identical diagnosis.
“It changed my entire trajectory,” Nelson said. “I thought, health care is my calling, and I am going to find a cure for Type 1 diabetes. I had to find the sunshine in this whole dark tragedy that happened to me and my father.”
In the years after her diagnosis, Nelson developed a passion for exercise and nutrition. She began teaching aerobics classes to share her love of fitness with others and then fell in love with body building.
Since the beginning of her bodybuilding career, she has competed in 23 competitions and won numerous awards, including Ms. World International in 2004. Nelson is one of only three other American female bodybuilders to ever win this title. She found that bodybuilding became a way for her to fight back in her battle with Type 1 diabetes.
“Having a chronic disease made me feel broken, so I decided to build as much muscle and strength as I could so that when people looked at me, they would never think I was sick,” Nelson said.
Nelson pursued a career in nutrition to help other individuals with diabetes find empowerment and agency. She earned a bachelor’s degree in dietetics and a master’s in clinical nutrition and went on to become a Registered Dietitian and Certified Diabetes Educator. While her career was fulfilling, Nelson felt her journey in health care was incomplete. She dreamed of becoming a nurse practitioner, but struggled to find an MSN program that would bridge her bachelor’s in dietetics.
During an American Diabetes Association conference, Nelson met a nurse practitioner who told her about the School’s RN to MSN Pathway. Nelson said the School's top-ranked nursing programs, supportive faculty and welcoming environment were vital to her success. Through the School's online courses, she took advantage of her education and formed personal connections with faculty and fellow students, which made her feel part of a community.
“My hat is off to UAB for allowing health professionals like registered dieticians, pharmacists and speech pathologists who attain the status of RN to become nurse practitioners with a few bridge courses added to their curriculum,” Nelson said. “Although most of the classes were online, I felt like I was connected to the students and the professors. I never felt alone. The highlight for me was the first time I came to Alabama and witnessed such a warm and friendly campus. A group of undergraduate nursing students took me for a tour of the UAB campus when I was trying to orientate myself for the first time. From that moment onwards I became proud to be a part of this institution.”
Nelson was voted the MSN-FNP Outstanding Student for the 2024 academic year by her faculty. She credits much of her academic success to the discipline she developed as a bodybuilder.
"Athletes can handle anything,” Nelson said. “It's just about how you prioritize. I had to endure the impossible in preparation for a competition,” Nelson said. “It prepared me for what it would take to be successful in this master’s in nursing program while working full time. I think being a bodybuilder is why I was successful in this program. I don't know if I would’ve had the mental fortitude to have done this otherwise”
