Dean Cipriano Earns Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Fellowship

Pamela Cipriano, the sixth dean of UVA’s School of Nursing, has been named a Fellow Ad Eundem of the Royal College of Surgeons’ Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery in Dublin, Ireland.

The fellowship is bestowed upon individuals for their contributions and achievements in nursing, education and research. Cipriano – Sadie Heath Cabaniss Professor of Nursing, two-term president of the American Nurses Association and current first vice-president of the International Council of Nurses – has long been a voice for nurses, an advocate for clinician well-being and resilience, a leading voice to normalize clinicians’ pursuit of mental health care and a champion of expanding nurses’ influence in health care policy.

Over her four-decade career, Cipriano has focused on improving nurses’ care by ensuring a healthy, safe and supportive work environment, and encouraging healthy behaviors to promote well-being. A leader in the National Academy of Medicine’s Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience, she was instrumental in advancing strategies to reduce regulatory burden and revamp electronic documentation to relieve clinicians of unnecessary work. Since the pandemic, she helped the collaborative focus on mitigating the effects of COVID-19 on the mental health of all clinicians by reducing the stigma of seeking mental health care as primary prevention for burnout syndrome and depression. 

Cipriano’s advocacy for the nursing profession is well-recognized. She serves as an adviser to Times Up Health Care, a group that aims to eliminate sexual harassment and gender inequality in health care; was a public-sector adviser in the U.S. delegation to the 69th World Health Assembly; and the inaugural editor of the ANA’s American Nurse Today. Named one of the “Top 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare” by Modern Healthcare for four consecutive years (2015-18), she earned a post among the “Top 25 Women in Healthcare,” was a Distinguished Nurse Scholar in residence at the Institute of Medicine, and earned the American Academy of Nursing’s Healthcare Leader Award in 2018.

The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland’s Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery will induct Cipriano as a fellow at a virtual ceremony in mid-December led by the college’s dean, Michael Shannon. 

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