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Stephanie Noel-Branch had a career in retail management spanning 14 years before transitioning to medicine. With her husband Mickey’s encouragement and added support at home, Noel-Branch went back to school part-time, first obtaining her GED and then earning her associate degree in nursing at Mountain Gateway Community College and started working in the resource pool at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. Working in that position, Carilion offered tuition reimbursement or advancement opportunities, which was essential in helping Noel-Branch graduate with her bachelor's degree through Jefferson College of Health Science. One of the things Noel-Branch loves about nursing is the many disciplines within the field. Aside from fulfilling hands-on patient care, it’s a family-sustaining career with the benefits of eventual retirement and teaching opportunities to pass on the knowledge learned on the job.

Stephanie Noel-Branch

Mickey Branch had just graduated high school when he began his career in the medical field in 1981. He started as an orderly, working his way up to being a surgical technician by the age of 19. Learning on the job, he was trained to assist physicians in various specialties in the operating room. Through continuing education programs, Branch’s skills advanced. To bring his career full circle, Branch now gets to be a mentor for the new surgical assistants that train with him at Carilion Rockbridge Community Hospital. He encourages others interested in the field to do their research into procedures and specialties that interest them, advising that medicine is always changing, and lifelong learning is a must for any professional today.

Mickey Branch