News Release: Emory Healthcare, School of Nursing, Woodruff Health Sciences
Nov. 20, 2008
Emory Names Linda McCauley Dean of Nursing School
Linda A. McCauley, PhD, FAAN, RN, a renowned environmental health researcher and member of the Institute of Medicine, has been appointed dean of Emory University's Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. McCauley will begin her tenure at Emory on May 1, 2009.
She currently is associate dean for research and the Nightingale Professor in Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. McCauley is a national leader in the area of pesticide exposure and its impact on vulnerable populations, particularly children and workers.
"Dr. McCauley is an internationally recognized leader in nursing education and research," says Fred Sanfilippo, MD, PhD, who made the appointment as Emory executive vice president for health affairs and chief executive officer of the Woodruff Health Sciences Center.
"Her professional acumen and passion for her field will help the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing continue to attract some of the most outstanding faculty and promising nursing students in the nation -- faculty who will pioneer lifesaving advances in nursing practice and research and students who will go on to deliver outstanding outcomes, safety and service to the people in their care around the world," adds Sanfilippo.
McCauley's appointment follows an extensive national search led by James Curran, MD, MPH, dean of Emory's Rollins School of Public Health, and Susan Grant, RN, chief nursing officer for Emory Healthcare.
Emory President James W. Wagner says, "Dr. McCauley brings the kind of leadership strengths that Emory needs to protect and improve human health, especially among those who are most vulnerable in our society. Her influence and expertise play prominently on the national stage and will provide important new avenues for Emory to bring new solutions to problems affecting many thousands of human lives."
She received a bachelor of nursing degree from the University of North Carolina, and in 1979 she received a masters in nursing from Emory. In 1988, she earned a doctorate degree in environmental health and epidemiology from the University of Cincinnati.
McCauley is a member of the American Public Health Association, the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses, the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology, the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, the Sigma Theta Tau Honorary Nursing Society, the American Nurses Association and the American Academy of Nursing.
She also serves in an advisory capacity for the Institute of Medicine, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences.
"Dr. McCauley has a rich academic history as a trailblazer in nursing research and as one whose approach to inquiry combines many disciplines," says Earl Lewis, PhD, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. "She brings the kind of deep curiosity and broad spirit of collaboration that will benefit academic pursuits not only in health sciences but all throughout the university."
University of Pennsylvania's School of Nursing Dean Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, RN, DrPS (HON), says, "It is with sadness, but enormous pride that I learned of the appointment of Dr. McCauley to the deanship of the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University. She is eminently qualified to lead this distinguished school of nursing to even higher levels of achievement. Her vision for the future of nursing science is an asset to the discipline."
At Emory, McCauley will lead a team of nursing faculty members, whose research spans the globe and ranks in the top 20 of more than 700 U.S. collegiate schools of nursing and the top 10 among private institutions. The nursing school develops nursing leaders who are transforming health care through science, education, practice and policy worldwide.
The nursing school provides a dual degree option with the Rollins School of Public Health, allowing students to graduate with master's degrees in both nursing and public health. In this program, students can major in international nursing, a rare offering in the United States or around the world. The school's PhD program is focused on generating new knowledge to improve health and health care quality, with emphasis on research on bio-behavioral determinants of health, improving global health and enhancing health systems.
About Linda A. McCauley, PhD, RN, FAAN
Dr. McCauley is a national leader in the area of research on environmental exposures and conducts interdisciplinary research using participatory research models to study pesticide exposures among minority communities. Her work aims to identify culturally appropriate interventions to decrease the impact of environmental and occupational health hazards in vulnerable populations, including workers and young children. A major goal of her research is to disseminate findings in ways that are understandable and meaningful to clinicians and migrant farm workers.
McCauley's leadership roles at University of Pennsylvania include: director of the Office of Nursing Research, School of Nursing; member of the MPH advisory committee and steering committee for the Center for Public Health Initiatives; associate scholar, Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Medicine; member of the Center for Excellence in Environmental Toxicology, School of Medicine; and director, Occupational and Environmental Health Nursing, School of Nursing.
She is a fellow of the American Academy of Occupational Health Nurses and recently participated as a Fellow of Harvard University Kennedy School of Government's Women and Power in the New World.
###
The Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center of Emory University is an academic health science and service center focused on missions of teaching, research, health care and public service. Its components include schools of medicine, nursing, and public health; Yerkes National Primate Research Center; the Emory Winship Cancer Institute; and Emory Healthcare, the largest, most comprehensive health system in Georgia. The Woodruff Health Sciences Center has a $2.3 billion budget, 17,000 employees, 2,300 full-time and 1,900 affiliated faculty, 4,300 students and trainees, and a $4.9 billion economic impact on metro Atlanta.
Learn more about Emory’s health sciences:
Blog: http://emoryhealthblog.com
Twitter: @emoryhealthsci
Web: http://emoryhealthsciences.org
