The Next Nurse Scientists

This fall, the many wonderful students we welcomed to Penn Nursing included our first cohort of Hillman Scholars in Nursing Innovation. These academically talented, committed, and foresighted students are planning careers as cutting-edge leaders and researchers. With the generous support of the Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation, we have begun mentoring these five inaugural scholars along a streamlined BSN-to-PhD pathway.

Led by our own Terry Richmond, PhD, RN, acclaimed for her expertise in nursing education, the program’s diverse and demanding curriculum incorporates interdisciplinary education with research career development and guidance starting at the undergraduate level. Students work closely with faculty mentors and collaborate with established research teams in Penn Nursing’s renowned research centers.

This is a program of national importance. It is no secret that we are facing a severe shortage of nursing faculty in the United States. The average age of nurses graduating with a PhD now hovers near 45 years old, and data from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing show that 77 percent of nurse faculty are over the age of 50 years.

We expect that our Hillman Scholars in Nursing Innovation will complete their PhDs within seven years of entering Penn Nursing, giving them decades to develop and mature a program of research and advance nursing knowledge. Their program of study is designed to prepare them as innovative nurse leaders who will drive the future of nursing, healthcare, and the health of society. The first cohort of Hillman Scholars in Nursing Innovation and their research interests are:

• Kaitlin Best, critically ill children
• Whitney Eriksen, cognitive dysfunction and autism
• Hayley Germack, health of immigrant populations
• Linda Kang, health policy and the nursing workforce
• Kaori Sakanashi, vulnerable non-English-speaking immigrants.

These future nurse leaders have big energy, big talent, and big plans. They are working side-by-side with our premier Nursing faculty and are being integrated into our broad and rich research community, which crisscrosses the world. I wholeheartedly agree with our scholar Kaori, who said that this initiative presents “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” For all of us here, starting young nurses on a journey to becoming the scholars of the future is a dream come true.

Firsts & Innovations

What does it mean to be first? Thought leadership, trailblazing, going where no one has gone before. These all describe nursing at Penn. From the start, nursing at Penn has meant being at the cutting edge, doing things differently, breaking new ground for science, for the benefit of our patients and our communities, and for future leaders in nursing. What was it like before nurses developed the evidence to manage symptoms, identified the best models to prevent illness, or helped patients through transitions and complex healthcare decisions? In short, where would healthcare be without nursing research? Nursing at Penn has led the way in these areas and many others.

Nursing at Penn always has meant thinking outside the box in our classrooms and our laboratories, at the bedside and the bench, about the very young and the very old, about the sick and the well. Nursing at Penn means influencing the world through ideas, through actions, and through policy changes.


As we open our celebration of 125 years of nursing at Penn, I share with you just a few of our innovations which have made a difference in the health of our world:

• The first nursing doctorate in the Ivy League
• The first privately funded center for nursing research in the country
• The first school at Penn and one of the first in North America to be named a World Health Organization Collaborating Center
• The first operating room nurse in the nation
• The first nurse anesthetist in Philadelphia
• The first nurse to receive the MacArthur Fellowship, known as the “genius” award
• Some of the first endowed chairs for nursing in the country
• One of the first aerospace nurses in the NASA program

Our contributions to nursing and to health are exponential. With that in mind, I invite you to celebrate 125 years of nursing at Penn by helping us assemble a list of 125 innovative faculty, students, and alumni. Share your ideas at nursalum@pobox.upenn.edu and become a fan of Penn Nursing Alumni on Facebook for weekly updates on 125 Innovators and Ideas!