Considerations for Reopening U.S. Schools of Nursing During COVID-19

Dr. Watson is a Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her policy research focuses on public health risk assessment, crisis and risk-based decision making, public health and healthcare preparedness and response, biodefense, and emerging infectious disease preparedness and response. During COVID-19 Dr. Watson has produced research and policy analysis related to burden of disease; contact tracing; and risk assessment and mitigation steps for reopening businesses, holding mass gatherings, and bringing students back to campus in the fall. Dr. Watson earned a DrPH in Health Policy and Management in 2017, and an MPH in 2009, from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Tener Goodwin Veenema, PhD, MPH, MS, is a Contributing Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and a Professor of Nursing and Public Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. At the Center, she leads research projects to explore health systems optimization and healthcare worker protection during disasters and large-scale biological events. She also serves as an Associate Editor of the peer-reviewed journal Health Security (formerly Biosecurity and Bioterrorism). As an internationally recognized expert in disaster nursing and public health emergency preparedness, she has served as senior scientist to the DHHS Office of Human Services Emergency Preparedness and Response (OHSEPR), Department of Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs Emergency Management Evaluation Center (VEMEC), and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). An accomplished researcher, Dr. Veenema has sustained career funding over 2.2 million dollars, is a member of the Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness at the National Academy of Medicine, and is an elected Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, the National Academies of Practice, and the Royal College of Surgeons, Faculty of Nursing & Midwifery, Dublin, Ireland. Dr. Veenema is editor of Disaster Nursing and Emergency Preparedness for Chemical, Biological and Radiological Terrorism and Other Hazards, 4th Ed., the leading textbook in the field. Dr. Veenema received the Florence Nightingale Medal of Honor (International Red Crescent, 2013) the highest international award in Nursing for her professional service in disasters and public health emergencies. She received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award (2017), was selected Visiting Research Scholar to Torrens Disaster Institute (Australia, 2017) and New York University (2018,) and received a lifetime achievement award from Columbia University School of Nursing (2019).