Distributing her skills among many fields, Naomi Farrell, RN, became involved in her profession because of her father, the Rev. Louis Farrell, who was very scholarly and inspired her a lot. He used to write poetry, and it was the background of her father who made her love learning and stay curious. Currently, she has served as a Middle East correspondent for the UN Observer and International Report since 1993 and a feature writer for the Jerusalem Post since 1995. Ms. Farrell began her career as a TV performer in Canada from 1959 to 1963 before becoming an administrator with Health Insurance Plan in New York for one year. She then served as a nurse and researcher at Cornell Medical Center from 1977 to 1980 and associate editor of Al Hoda, the New Lebanese American Journal from 1979 to 1995. During this time, she served as a UN correspondent and freelance writer for the Globe and Mail of Canada, Al Ahram Weekly in Egypt, the Technion University Report in Israel and New Middle East Magazine.
In addition to this tenure, Ms. Farrell was a dancer, model, band leader and movie actress from 1957 to 1966 and consulted for International Medical Tourism in 1985. Originally from Scotland, she first immigrated to Canada in 1949, where she was raised, and later to the United States in 1963. Prior to the start of her professional career, Ms. Farrell pursued a formal education at the City University of New York, earning an Associate of Applied Science, with honors, in 1970. She then attended Hunter College, where she received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1973. She went on to matriculate at Long Island University, obtaining a UN studies certificate in 1978 and a Master of Science in social science and international affairs in 1979. She is also a registered nurse and was certified as a medical-surgical specialist in 1991.
Involved in endeavors outside of her primary trade, Ms. Farrell served on the international advisory board of the Symphony for UN in 1986. Additionally, she authored numerous articles and poems for newspapers, magazines and books throughout her career. In order to keep updated of trends in her field, Ms. Farrell maintains involvement with numerous related organizations. She was an associate editor for the UN Correspondence Association in 1985 and vice president of the Society Writers of UN from 1985 to 1986. Likewise, she was active with the Foreign Press Association, the UN Association, the Society for International Development, the New York Academy of Sciences, the American Nurses Association and the Voices-English Poets Society in Israel.
In honor of her myriad accomplishments, Ms. Farrell wrote a research paper on world hunger that was accepted by the UN Research and Training Library and used by the Presidential Commission on World Hunger in Washington in 1979. Moreover, she is listed in the 13th and 19th editions of Who’s Who in the World and the 48th and 52nd editions of Who’s Who in America. Ms. Farrell attributes her success to serendipity and her “go-for-it” attitude, engendered by her upbringing.