Ms. Gautam is an experienced pediatric nurse practitioner being licensed to practice in Texas. She has been in healthcare for 20 years and has earned a strong reputation for excellence in pediatrics service for over 13 years. She is proud to be raised by parents who firmly focused on providing good education to a female child in an English medium school in Nepal. She has three siblings; one older sister is a psychiatrist in Nepal, and two younger brothers; one is an engineer in Houston, TX, and the youngest brother is an eye surgeon in Nepal. Her parents come from middle-class families who owned a pharmacy store and went out of their league to provide the best education to all four children. She is filled with gratitude for her parents’ dedication toward them. 

Ms. Gautam was involved in community service from her early childhood alongside her father. Later as a student of nursing science, she had first-hand experience working with the community in rural villages in Nepal. She encountered numerous preventable health problems deeply embedded in the socio-economic and cultural aspects of the population. She migrated to Houston after completing her BSN with a strong desire to pursue further studies in public health to impact the community to a more significant extent. 

She earned a BSN from BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences in Nepal. She completed the MSN/MPH dual degree program at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. Ms. Gautam is a Ph.D. candidate working on her Ph.D. dissertation at Texas Woman’s University in Houston. Her area of research is related to children and families with an autism spectrum disorder. After completing the Ph.D. program, Ms. Gautam plans to provide community service to this vulnerable population group by utilizing her public health and pediatrics skills. 

Throughout her nursing career, she has had experience in adult neurosurgery as an RN for five years at Houston Methodist Hospital. After obtaining her MSN in the pediatric nurse practitioner track, her first Nurse practitioner role was in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Texas Children’s Hospital. She was exposed to children with cerebral palsy and other spasticity disorders. She developed great inner strength, compassion, and empathy while working with this vulnerable population. She then worked in pediatric surgical cardiology at Texas Children’s Hospital. The severity of health acuity with this sub-specialty made her move to primary care to be more accessible and contribute more towards preventive care in the community. She enjoyed working in primary care for seven years and currently works in community clinics of Texas Children’s Hospital, where you find her serving after hours and on weekends. 

Ms. Gautam proudly says, “Because I have been in different roles and have been exposed to different populations, I blend my practice and experience and strive to be the best version of myself when caring for my patients.” 

Besides the clinician role, she taught as an adjunct professor of Nursing at TWU School of Nursing from 2020 to 2022. She has exceeded expectations as a faculty based on the review from her students and other faculty members and was known to be an inspirational teacher. She is also actively involved as a preceptor and a mentor to Nurse Practitioner students at her practice sites. She takes immense pride in teaching and being able to contribute to creating the next generation of competitive nursing professionals. 

Ms. Gautam has recently contributed a chapter to the book “Mentoring in Nursing through Narrative Stories Across the World,” which is heading toward publication by Spring 2023. She has contributed articles to Nursology.net and Nursing Centered at Sigma Nursing and has a publication in a nursing journal. She is on the editorial board of the International Journal for Human Caring.

Ms. Gautam is a proud Sigma Theta Tau International Society of Nursing, Beta Beta Houston Chapter member. She is also involved in Evidence-Based Outcomes Committee at Texas Children’s Hospital and provides input from her clinical practice to form clinical guidelines and protocols. In addition, Ms. Gautam is associated with the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, and the International Society for Autism Research. 

For those pursuing a nursing profession, Ms. Gautam encourages them to choose the area which interests them, where they can stay and build themselves by obtaining a higher education and expertise.  

In her spare time, Ms. Gautam enjoys volunteering at a community autism center. She also loves traveling and adventures. A proud mother, Ms. Gautam has two children.  

Her source of motivation is rooted in her upbringing, and her future research trajectory is from the inspiration of her son. Her son was diagnosed to have autism spectrum disorder, and since then, she has been more intrigued by the children and families with autism spectrum disorder. In her Ph.D. journey, she dedicates support and honor to her mentor, Wyona Freysteinson, Ph.D, MN, RN, FAAN.