School Notes: School of Nursing
November/December 2023

YSN launches centennial year

Dean Azita Emami kicked off the YSN Centennial by “Imagining the Next Century of Better Health for All People,” a conversation that included President Salovey. Together with the president of the Rockefeller Foundation, which established the school with a foundational gift, the discussion covered how nurses will play a critical role in solving complex problems like addressing the health effects of climate change and making health care more accessible, equitable, and just. As Dean Emami said, “We cannot accept as inevitable the divisions and inequities and lack of wellness that are today’s reality. We cannot accept that health care disparities are inevitable. And we absolutely cannot accept the idea that meeting and eliminating these challenges is too costly or too difficult.” 

At its inception, YSN made history as the first school within a university to offer nurses a full educational experience rather than an apprenticeship program, and it will continue to shift the paradigms of pedagogy and models of care. Centennial programming continues through May 2024 and includes a faculty lecture series, alumni events, and an exhibition at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library through January 14, 2024. 

First online psychiatric mental health NP, MSN cohort

As part of an effort to address a longstanding shortage of mental health clinicians exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the inaugural Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) online Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) cohort, which began the program last May, will continue its trailblazing year with an advanced health assessment immersion weekend on campus in November. The sessions will be led by Professors Megan McClain Garcia ’17MSN, Christine Berté, and Sam Korbey ’20MSN. The three-year, part-time program is designed for RN-prepared nurses and includes both synchronous and asynchronous instruction. The second cohort initiated the PMHNP program in September, and the third cohort will begin in January 2024.