Family Tradition

Mariana Chiappori comes from a long line of healthcare professionals. Both of her grandfathers worked in medicine, her father is a physician, her mother is a doctor turned nurse and her cousin is in medical school. She says from a young age she knew she wanted to serve others through medicine. Her parents inspired her to continue the family tradition by pursuing a career in the nursing field.

Mariana’s father, Dr. Alberto Chiappori, began working at Moffitt Cancer Center in September 2001 in the Thoracic Clinic. As a high school student, Mariana volunteered at the cancer center and would sometimes visit him in his office, but not in his clinic because it was too busy. She enjoyed being at Moffitt, and in 2017, she accepted a nursing position. During her orientation, the roles were reversed when her father visited her on the in-patient floor where she was training. She says she was embarrassed because she wanted to be a professional but feels bad about that now.

The father and daughter don’t get to see each other much while working at Moffitt because Dr. Chiappori works in an outpatient clinic and Mariana works in the in-patient side of the hospital. However, Mariana will still visit his office on the days she has her residency class since it is a shorter day for her. Dr. Chiappori says he’s proud to see his daughter follow in the family footsteps, "It makes me very happy and proud of myself and her because I know that she is doing something that she loves and that she is doing something she is very good at." His advice to his daughter is to be nice, be patient, be professional, be compassionate, work hard and always try to learn a lot.

Mariana says, "My dad has made a great impact in my life to pursue the field of medicine. I think he was aiming more towards medical school, but I know he is very proud of me for doing nursing. If anything, my dad working at Moffitt really convinced me to work at Moffitt. Being around the hospital for so many years through my dad and through student volunteering, made me make many connections with the people who work at this institution, so I felt more comfortable and felt a right fit having Moffitt be my first nursing role."

Both father and daughter enjoy working at Moffitt because the mission and values of the cancer center so closely align with their own.