From the British Army to nursing science

Joanna Vennekotter, BSN, MA, BS, RN, always loved science and knew she wanted to achieve her highest level of education, but before deciding on a field of study, she joined the British Army and saw the world.

While studying for her bachelor’s degree in pharmacology, the London native joined the University Officers’ Training Corp and was accepted into the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, England. Her first deployment took her to Iraq shortly after 9/11, where she managed logistics for a field hospital and commanded an ambulance troop.

Over the next 15 years, Vennekotter served in Germany, Afghanistan, and the Falkland Islands and rose to the rank of major serving as a deputy chief of staff. She earned a Master of Arts in global diplomacy from the University of London while working with the United Nations in Cyprus.

Vennekotter met her husband – Mark – in Mogadishu. The Navy reservist brought her home to Houston, and they married in Hawaii in January 2020. She spent the pandemic months settling into her new life in Texas.

“I was looking for a second career,” she said. “I wanted to do something where I was giving back and helping other people.”

The breadth and depth of possibilities in nursing – and the opportunities within the Texas Medical Center – made her choice easy. After getting her permanent resident card, she earned her prerequisites at Wharton County Junior College.

“Admission into Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth Houston was a milestone achievement that I was deeply proud of,” Vennekotter said. She wanted to get to work as soon as possible, so the 15-month Pacesetter Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program appealed to her.

She was apprehensive about the age and cultural differences between her and most of her classmates, but she found that her military service prepared her for success in nursing.

“As an Army officer deploying young soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, I witnessed the psychological impact of combat, including PTSD. This taught me that leadership extends beyond tactical execution; it requires active mentorship and compassion,” she said. “Providing critical support to my team during high-stress periods shaped a leadership philosophy centered on empathy and resilience that I continue to practice today.”

She also found similarities in the structured nature of military service and nursing, and the time management skills learned in the British Army helped her through the rigorous Pacesetter program.

While a BSN student, Vennekotter participated in the Honors Research Program, working on a project involving lactation counseling via video calls with Emily Barr, PhD, CPNP-PC, CNM, FAAN, then an assistant professor at Cizik School of Nursing. Her well-received presentation on the topic at the school’s Scholars Day boosted her confidence in public speaking.

“The experience gained during the Honors Research Program cemented the area of interest for my PhD,” she said. She plans to focus her research on women’s health – specifically perceptions and attitudes towards midwife care in America compared to the U.K.

“In the U.K., as a pregnant woman, the first person you see is a midwife. Both in the U.S. and the U.K., they are extremely experienced and trusted nurses in their field with advanced degrees,” she said, noting that maternal death rates are lower in the U.K. than in the U.S.

Vennekotter wanted to get some bedside experience under her belt before going back to school, so she worked in a labor and delivery unit for a while before applying to Cizik School of Nursing’s PhD in Nursing program.

Now a U.S. citizen, Vennekotter works full time in the UT Physicians Orthopedics Sports and Family Medicine practice, where will serve as a preceptor for Cizik School of Nursing BSN students in the Fall 2026 semester.

With a pair of tween children active in sports, she is pursuing her PhD part time with the goal of graduating in 2029. She is interested in teaching but also wants to build a program of research into the barriers to midwife practice and acceptance in the U.S.