Feb. 9, 2026 — Ask Connie Nixon, R.N., about her work at the University of Florida Health Congenital Heart Center and she doesn’t start with terminology or titles. She starts with children.

“I call them my kids,” said Nixon, a clinical coordinator with the center. “Not just until they reach a certain age. Forever.”

Nixon has been working in pediatric cardiology at the UF College of Medicine for more than 30 years. Her relationships with patients span decades, and her impact as a caregiver has reached past operating rooms and clinics, into birthdays and graduations and weddings.

While Nixon’s own story began in pediatrics, it wasn’t as a health care provider. She was a business student at UF, working for Gerold Schiebler, M.D., then chair of pediatrics and one of the first pediatric cardiologists in the state.

Nixon was motivated not only by Schiebler’s clinical work with sick children but also by his compassion and advocacy.

“I watched him with children and families and saw some of his legislative work, like child insurance laws and seatbelt laws,” she said. “I realized I wasn’t cutthroat enough for marketing or business. I wasn’t a salesman. I wanted to work with children; I wanted to go into health care.”

Nixon finished her business degree, taking elective courses in health care administration, and then enrolled in nursing school.

Schiebler not only supported Nixon’s goal, but mentored and taught her along the way, guiding her toward a career in pediatric cardiology.

Nixon initially went to work at Florida’s Children’s Medical Services program, which Schiebler had been a key figure in forming. She describes her work doing home visits as one of the most enlightening periods of her life, cementing her viewpoint that every child is entitled to the best health care.

She would take that view with her when she returned to UF in 1990 to work for the University of Florida, where one of her touchstone goals is ensuring families are as comfortable as possible.

“A family or a child is more likely to open up to you if you have a relationship with them,” she said. “I always try to pull up a chair and have a conversation. I don’t want them to feel rushed, and I don’t want them to feel like we’re rushed.”

Those relationships are what get Nixon through even the longest days.

“When kids rush up to you and give you a hug? That’s the best way to start a day and it’s the best way to end one,” she said.

The strength of those relationships extends past the walls of UF Health.

“One little boy’s mom called me one night and said he’d really been missing seeing me since his appointments had been less frequent,” Nixon said. “So, I met them for a hamburger.”

Little touches like this cement the bonds Nixon builds. They’re why her patients stay in touch long after they’ve moved on from pediatric care and why her found family numbers in the hundreds.

One way Nixon bonds with pediatric patients is volunteering at Camp Boggy Creek, which provides free camp experiences to children with serious medical conditions. This summer will be Nixon’s 30th year volunteering there as a nurse.

“When you see some of these kids climb a rock wall or catch their first fish? It’s amazing,” she said.

Nixon has been referred to by physicians as the “heart and soul” of the UF Health Congenital Heart Center and has won numerous accolades over the course of her career, but the single thread that runs through her experiences is her simple and steady love for the patients she thinks of as her kids.

She said she’s proud to be on the team, which she’s watched grow into what she considers the best heart center in the state of Florida and one of the best in the Southeast.

“People ask me why I don’t retire,” she said. “If you love what you do, it’s not a chore to come to work. This life doesn’t turn off at 5 o’clock. Watching these kids grow up? Watching the impact you have on them? That’s what health care and nursing is all about.”