How an Innovative Academic-Practice Partnership is Improving Patient Outcomes

At Simmons, I have been instrumental in building early innovative models of academic practice partnerships locally and then globally. In Boston, the unique model of "hospital as client” with the hospital financing the academic progression of employees in RN-BSN and RN-MSN programs grew from one partnership five years ago to eight partnerships. With foundation funding, she partnered with the University of Cairo to replicate an accelerated second degree BSN program for unemployed university graduates. This effort significantly advanced workforce capacity and elevated the level of professional nursing practice in Egypt. With academic and practice partners in Saudi Arabia and with philanthropists in Bangladesh and Israel, I am further replicating these programs.

As a RWJ Executive Nurse Fellow from 2008-2011, I created a national forum on academic-practice partnership by successfully engaging a national association to identify this issue as a strategic priority. I developed and co-led the AACN-AONE Task Force on Academic-Practice Partnerships. This group has significantly elevated the conversation on and strategy for developing academic-practice partnerships.

Dr. Karen Devereaux Melillo is the Interim Dean and Professor, Solomont School of Nursing, Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell. She is the Director of the Center for Gerontology Research and Partnerships. Her prior leadership roles include serving as Director and Chair of the School of Nursing (2013-2014), Chair (2005-2013), and Coordinator of the Adult-Gerontological Nurse Practitioner Specialty (2013-2014) and Coordinator of the Gerontological Nurse Practitioner Specialty (1985-2005).

Dr. Melillo's major research focus is on gerontological and geropsychiatric nursing, with an emphasis on the role of the nurse practitioner in caring for older adults in primary care and long-term care settings. Health promotion of older adults, specifically physical activity and exercise, has been an area of research and scholarship. She has been PI or Co-Investigator on grants to promote innovative models of clinical and interprofessional education at the baccalaureate and MS NP levels. She has served as PI on nursing workforce diversity funded projects focusing on bringing diversity to nursing with recruitment, retention, and graduation of educationally and economically disadvantaged students, as well as those underrepresented in nursing, for nearly ten years.

Dr. Susan Gennaro was named dean and professor at the William F. Connell School of Nursing July 1, 2008. Previously the Florence and William Downs Professor of Nursing Research at the College of Nursing, New York University, and has also served on the faculty of the schools of nursing at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Alabama in Birmingham, and Medical University of South Carolina. She is an internationally known perinatal nurse researcher who has helped to change perinatal nursing practice based on her work on the antecedents and consequences of stress in families with preterm infants. This work has been funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research, the Office of Women’s Health Research, and Sigma Theta Tau International. Dr. Gennaro’s research has been conducted in Malawi and Uganda as well as in the United States. Aside from being a prolific author herself, she has been involved in the dissemination of nursing research through extensive activities as an editorial board member and manuscript reviewer for the Journal of Nursing Scholarship as well as many other premier research journals. Dr. Gennaro is active as a member of the National Nursing Advisory Committee for the March of Dimes; Sigma Theta Tau; and the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses. She has won two awards from AWHONN the Outstanding Nurse Researcher award and the highest honor given by AWHONN: The Distinguished Service Award. ASPO/LAMAZE presented Dr. Gennaro an award in recognition of her service in advancing perinatal education. Additionally, she has received Distinguished Alumni awards from the University of Alabama in Birmingham and from Pace University. In recognition of her contributions to global women’s health, Dr. Gennaro also received the Lenore Rowe Williams Award from the University of Pennsylvania. And in 2013 she was inducted into Sigma Theta Tau’s International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame.

Cecilia McVey has held progressively responsible leadership positions within VA Nursing Service since beginning her career in 1972. In 1997 she was appointed as Chief, Nursing Service for the former Boston VA Medical Center. Upon the merger of that entity with the West Roxbury division in 1999, she was named Chief, Nursing Service for Integration and subsequently Associate Director for Nursing/Patient Services (ADN/PS} for Boston and West Roxbury. When the Brockton division was reintegrated in June 2000, Mrs. McVey was appointed to her current role of ADN/PS for the entire Boston Healthcare System. In this role, she is accountable for the delivery of nursing care throughout the BHS and the management of nearly 1000 employees at the three main divisions as well as satellite facilities. As a member of the BHS Leadership Quadrad, she contributes to policy development and decision-making and participates in strategic planning and resource management.

Mrs. McVey received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Boston College in 1972, completed a certificate program in Nursing Administration at Clark University in Worcester in 1986, and received her Master of Science in Health Administration from Clark in 1988. She has published several articles in professional journals and remains certified in Nursing Administration by the American Nurses Association. Her professional memberships include Sigma Theta Tau (National Honor Society of Nursing}, the American and Massachusetts Nurses Associations, the Boston College Nurses Association and the Nurses Organization of Veterans Affairs (NOVA}, for which she is the National Past President 2008- 2010. Ms. McVey was inducted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing in October 2017

Dr. Linda Thompson has spent the majority of her career promoting policies and programs to improve the quality of life for children and youth . Her research on the determinants of risky behaviors among youth documented the need for collaborative strategies for healthy child development. Her strategy to create partnerships with academic institutions, government and community-based organizations to promote healthy children is described in an article published in the Journal of Applied Developmental Science. This strategy was designed in her role as Special Secretary for Children, Youth and Families. As such, she was the Chief Policy Advisor to the Governor of Maryland on all mailers related to children and youth, managing an interagency budget of over $350 million. Her commitment to envision, enact, and sustain effective research programs for children and youth continues in her current research focus on promoting healthy lifestyles to reduce childhood obesity in children and youth and reducing health disparities in minority populations. This research uses a multidisciplinary approach or community-partnered strategies for the primary prevention of chronic disease among urban children and youth. Dr.Thompson earned both BSN and MSN degrees at Wayne State University (MI), and masters and doctoral degrees in public health from The Johns Hopkins University (MD).

Dr. Diane Welsh is the Dean for the Regis College School of Nursing and oversees eight (8) programs and 50 faculty members. She has been employed by Regis for ten years and has held roles as a Program Director and Associate Dean. She is the co-creator of the Regis Center for Interprofessional Education. She has served as faculty in the Doctoral Program working with students on their Capstone Projects. Her Doctoral work consisted of developing a Preceptor Program for a Transition into Practice Model for the Baccalaureate Nursing student. She was the Co-Chair for the Massachusetts Nursing Core Competency Committee. Dr. Welsh has experience in new program development and established two new second degree Bachelor of Science in nursing programs for Regis College. She currently oversees the development of new on-line nursing programs. Dr. Welsh serves on the Steering Committee of North East Region VA Nursing Alliance, NEVANA, a partnership with the VA Health Care System. She also served as a board member for the Massachusetts and Rhode Island League for Nursing, a board member of Phi Epsilon, Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society and as a program accreditor for the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN). In addition, she is a member of the Massachusetts Action Coalition concentrating her commitment to the seamless progression of nursing student education. Dr. Welsh has served as the Project Director for a Massachusetts Department of Higher Education Grant Residency Development in Home Care and Hospice.