Thomas Jefferson University's Speakman Chosen for Highly Competitive National Nurse Fellowship

PHILADELPHIA, PA (08/07/2012)(readMedia)-- Elizabeth Speakman, EdD, RN, CDE, ANEF, an associate professor and co-director of the Jefferson Center for Interprofessional Education, at Thomas Jefferson University (TJU), has been named one of only 20 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Executive Nurse Fellows from across the country for 2012. Speakman 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.

A nurse educator for 27 years, Speakman is a nationally-recognized curriculum expert and consultant, who has delivered more than 70 presentations at local, regional and national venues. Recognition of her leadership in nursing education includes fellowship in the Academy of Nursing Education and selection as a Johnson and Johnson and a Jonas Foundation Faculty Mentor. In addition to service in numerous professional organizations, Speakman has been re-elected for a second term to the National League for Nursing Board of Governor, and is an invited member of the Sigma Theta Tau International Sharecare Expert forum. She is a member of four community college advisory boards and the advisory board of the Nurse Residency Program at TJU. Her publications include the book, Body Fluids and Electrolytes: Program Presentation and book chapters, most notably in Potter & Perry's Fundamentals and Basic Nursing and Achieving Excellence in Nursing Education. Speakman is a reviewer for Nursing Education Perspectives and International Journal of Nursing Education and is a member of the editorial board of the Thomas Jefferson University Health Policy Newsletter.

Speakman is also the recipient of the Dean's Faculty Achievement Award for excellence in teaching, research and service and is the principal investigator for TJU's grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's New Careers in Nursing (NCIN) program. The university has received $430,000 in funding for NCIN scholarships for second degree nursing students enrolled its one-year accelerated nursing degree program. Her Executive Nurse Fellows research project will focus on interprofessional education and collaborative practice.

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 Speakman 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."

"The potential for personal and professional growth as an Executive Nurse Fellow is incredible," said Speakman. "I am really looking forward to all of the opportunities through this fellowship that will undoubtedly make me a more effective interprofessional health care leader."

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.

In addition to Speakman, the other 19 RWJF Executive Nurse Fellows – selected from approximately 150 applicants – are:

• Rita Adeniran, DrNP, RN, CMAC, NEA-BC, director of Diversity and Inclusion, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia;

• Beth Bolick, DNP, PNP-BC, CPNP-AC, CCRN, coordinator of the Acute Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (AC PNP) Program, Rush University College of Nursing, Chicago;

• Beth Brooks, PhD, RN, FACHE, president of Resurrection University, Oak Park, Ill.;

• Richard Cuming, RN, MSN, EdD, NEA-BC, senior vice president and chief nursing executive, Jackson Health System, Miami;

• Sheila Davis, DNP, RN, ANP-BC, FAAN, director of Global Nursing, Partners In Health, Boston;

• Cole Edmonson, BSN, MSN, DNP, FACHE, NEA-BC, vice president of Patient Care Services and chief nursing officer, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas;

• Loraine Frank-Lightfoot, RN, BSN, MBA, NEA-BC, chief nursing officer, Wooster Community Hospital, Wooster, Ohio;

• Carolyn Hayes, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, nurse executive at the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center, Boston;

• Bernadette Khan, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, vice president of Specialty Services, New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center, Plainview, New York;

• Pamela Kulbok, DNSc, RN, PHCNS-BC, FAAN, professor of Nursing and Public Health Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.;

• Linda Lawson, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, administrative director of Nursing Operations, Del Sol Medical Center, El Paso, Texas;

• Shawanda Poree, BS, BSN, MBA, deputy director for the Healthcare Placement Service, Veterans Health Administration Healthcare Retention and Recruitment Office, New Orleans;

• Lisa Sgarlata, RN, MSFM, MSN, chief administrative officer, Lee Memorial Hospital, Lee Memorial Health System, Fort Myers, Fla.;

• Janice Smolowitz, EdD, DNP, ANP-BC, DCC, senior associate dean and professor, Columbia University School of Nursing, New York;

• Suzan Ulrich, DrPH, CNM, FACNM, associate dean of Midwifery and Women's Health, Frontier Nursing University, Deerfield Beach, Fla.;

• Ellen-Marie Whelan, PhD, NP, FAAN, senior advisor at the Innovation Center, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Baltimore;

• Debra White, RN, MSN, MSA, ACNS-BC, NEA-BC, vice president and chief nursing officer, Saint Luke's Health System, Kansas City, Mo.;

• Danuta Wojnar, RN, PhD, MN, MED, IBCLC, associate professor and chair, Department of Maternal/Child and Family Nursing, Seattle University College of Nursing, Seattle; and

• Laura Wood, DNP, RN, MSN, vice president and national director, Clinical Solutions, Siemens Healthcare, Malvern, Pa.

The fellowship is supported through a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

For more information about the RWJF Executive Nurse Fellows program visit: www.ExecutiveNurseFellows.org.

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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. Follow the Foundation on Twitter www.rwjf.org/twitter or Facebook www.rwjf.org/facebook.