Executive Nurse Fellows announced

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has announced the 2011 cohort of its Executive Nurse Fellows Program.

As part of the three-year fellowship program, twenty-one nurses — selected from a pool of more than 130 applicants — will continue in their current roles at a wide range of health and healthcare organizations nationwide, while they also work to develop, plan, and implement new initiatives to improve healthcare delivery in their respective communities. Since its launch in 1998, more than two hundred nurses have participated in the program.

Located at the Center for Creative Leadership, the nurse fellows program advances the mission called for in a 2010 Institute of Medicine report, which argued that nurses should contribute as essential partners in the redesign of the country's health care system. To that end, the program provides coaching, education, and other support services to strengthen the fellows' ability to lead teams and organizations in improving health and health care.

The 2011 fellows include Debra Barksdale, associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing; Ruth Carrico, assistant professor at the University of Louisville's School of Public Health and Information Sciences; Janie Gawrys, vice president of Clinical Operations at ACCESS Community Health Network; Jean Giddens, executive dean and professor of the University of Mexico Health Sciences Center's College of Nursing; Pamela Jeffries, associate dean of academic affairs at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing; and Kim Moore, interim chief operating officer and chief nursing officer at the Saint Elizabeth Regional Medical Center in Lincoln, Nebraska.

"The RWJF Executive Nurse Fellows program is building and enhancing the leadership skills of extraordinary nurses around the country," said co-director Linda Cronenwett. "Our alumni are a virtual 'who's who' of accomplished nurses, and we know that the 2011 cohort will join them in doing great things. This program supports nurse leaders with potential to develop innovative ways to improve healthcare delivery."

For a complete list of this year's fellows, visit the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Web site.

“Twenty-One Accomplished Nurse Leaders From Across Nation Selected for Prestigious Three-Year Fellowships.” Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Press Release 8/11/11.