Woody inducted into Hall of Fame
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Mary Woody, former School of Nursing associate dean and director of nursing at Emory University Hospital, was inducted into the Alabama Healthcare Hall of Fame in the spring. A native of LaFayette, Ala., she was honored for her contributions to health care in the state. She was the founding dean of Auburn University’s School of Nursing in 1979. During her five-year tenure, she developed a baccalaureate program that quickly received national accreditation.
Woody returned to Atlanta in 1984 to serve at the school and at Emory University Hospital. She and then dean Clair Martin established a partnership that allowed hospital nurses to teach students and nursing faculty to maintain a clinical practice. She originally joined the hospital in 1956, serving as hospital administrator for 13 years. Her leadership led to major improvements in patient care, including implementing the guideline that all patients admitted should have an RN responsible for their care. She later became director of nursing at Grady Hospital in 1968, where she created a diabetes day care program using nurse practitioners, a nurse midwifery service, and specialized nurse-run clinics. She was one of the first administrators to seek out advanced practice nurses at Grady and later at Emory.
She served as interim dean at the school for one year before retiring from Emory in 1993. The induction into the hall of fame is one of several awards she has received. In 1999, she received the Marie Hippensteel Lingeman Award for Excellence in Nursing Practice from Sigma Theta Tau International and was named one of 50 "Women Pioneers in Health Care in Georgia" by the state.
