School of Nursing Creates Academic Departments, Names Chairs

In an ongoing strategic initiative, the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing (JHUSON) has structured SON areas of excellence as academic departments and named three faculty members as department chairs.
 
JHUSON Dean Martha N. Hill, PhD, RN, FAAN, announced the names of those selected at faculty and staff meetings held on February 13, 2007.  In her presentations, Hill recognized the dynamic and inclusive process undertaken in selecting the three department chairs.  She commended the faculty and staff who offered input throughout the process, and those who “stepped forward to take on new leadership responsibilities and to help achieve our strategic objective of even greater excellence in teaching, practice, and research.”    

Professor Fannie Gaston-Johansson, PhD, RN, FAAN, who will lead the faculty in the Acute and Chronic Care Department, holds the JHUSON Elsie M. Lawler Endowed Chair and serves as the director of the SON Center for Health Disparities.  She also leads the Global Health Promotion Research Program, an international, interdisciplinary research/educational program that attracts nursing, medical, public health, and arts and sciences students from universities throughout the country. 
 
Professor Victoria Mock, PhD, RN, FAAN, has agreed to chair the new department of Health Systems and Outcomes.  Mock leads the School’s National Institutes of Health funded Center for Collaborative Intervention Research and serves as director of nursing research at the Kimmel Cancer Center.  Previously director of the SON Center for Nursing Research, she is well known for fostering collaborative, interdisciplinary biobehavioral research initiatives among JHUSON and Johns Hopkins Hospital including faculty, staff, and students.

Associate Professor Phyllis W. Sharps, PhD, RN, FAAN, former director of the SON Master’s Program, will head the third department, Community and Public Health.  Sharps’ academic nursing career has focused on creating tomorrow’s nurse leaders.  Her research targets underserved audiences and she currently is the principal investigator on a multi-million dollar National Institute of Nursing Research community-based study aimed at helping at risk pregnant women and their infants.

Dean Hill noted that for these new chairs-and the departments and SON-it is “an exciting time…to join together for innovative and creative approaches to faculty career development…that will not only enhance, but also showcase our academic excellence and our expertise.”