Debra White selected for highly competitive Robert Wood Johnson Foundation national nurse fellowship
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Aug. 7, 2012) — Debra White, RN, MSN, MSA, ACNS-BC, NEA-BC, vice president and chief nursing officer at Saint Luke's Hospital of Kansas City, has been named one of only 20 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Executive Nurse Fellows from across the country for 2012. White joins a select group of nurse leaders chosen to participate in this three-year, world-class leadership development program that is enhancing nurse leaders’ effectiveness in improving the nation’s health care system.
As vice president and chief nursing officer, White is accountable for the nursing care delivered by more than 1,200 registered nurses employed by Saint Luke’s Health System and oversees the operational performance of multiple inpatient and outpatient clinical areas. Her position involves oversight of nursing, staff development, and quality activities. She was the recipient of the 2011 University of Missouri-Kansas City Alumni Achievement Award for the School of Nursing. She is active in a number of professional associations and boards, including Kansas City Nurse Executives. She is a district representative of the Board of Missouri Nurse Leaders Organization and serves on the Hill-Rom Chief Nurse Executive Advisory Board.
Begun by RWJF in 1998, the RWJF Executive Nurse Fellows (ENF) program strengthens the leadership capacity of nurses who aspire to shape health care locally and nationally. The program will provide White and her colleagues with coaching, education and other support to strengthen their abilities to lead teams and organizations in improving health and health care. The ENF program is located at the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), and co-directed by: Linda Cronenwett, PhD, RN, FAAN, the Beerstecher Blackwell Term Professor and former dean of the School of Nursing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and David Altman, PhD, executive vice president of Research, Innovation and Product Development at CCL.
“Now more than ever, with our health care system preparing to care for millions more patients, many of whom are living longer but with more chronic conditions, we need nurse leaders who are well prepared to participate as full partners in this historic transformation,” Cronenwett said. “The RWJF Executive Nurse Fellows program has a proud history of building and enhancing the leadership skills of extraordinary nurses all across the country. We are delighted to be able to work with this new cohort. Each of our new Executive Nurse Fellows has made a powerful commitment to improving health and health care and is poised to become an even more effective leader.”
“This is a huge honor, and I am so appreciative of the opportunity to work with my peers across the country who are improving the health of our nation,” White said. “I think nurse leaders have a huge contribution to make to our health care system and in molding what it will look like in the future and I hope through this program to gain the skills to be active in that process and help make an impact.”
Executive Nurse Fellows hold senior leadership positions in health services, scientific and academic organizations, public health and community-based organizations or systems, and national professional, governmental and policy organizations. They continue in their current positions during their fellowships, and during the fellowship each develops, plans and implements a new initiative to improve health care delivery in her or his community.
About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, measurable, and timely change. For 40 years the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org.