Board Member Spotlight: Janie Heath

Janie Heath PhD, APRN-BC, FAAN, FNAP, FAANP
University of Kentucky College of Nursing

What advice would you give your younger self?
Don’t take your academic nursing leadership career for advancing education, research and practice so serious – lighten up – breathe more- reflect more- laugh more- ENJOY a healthy balanced work-life MORE.

Where is your favorite vacation spot?
Daufuskie Island – a wonderful get away that FEW people know about – it is a beautiful historic 7 mile island that is a 45 minute ferry ride from Hilton Head, SC.  After the Civil War it became inhabited primarily by freed slaves – the book “The Ocean is Wide” by Pat Conroy tells a wonderful story about his work to integrate the Gullah children in the SC public school system. 

What made you want to pursue a career in nursing?
A total of 5 minutes went into my thinking – it was literally 4 weeks before high school graduation and my life turned upside down with family support (lack of). I was basically on my own and knew I needed a college education to make it! Nursing was the ONLY scholarship available so I was fortunate to get it and the rest is history!

What book should every nurse read?
Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult - a riveting fast paced novel of an African American Labor and Delivery nurse who begins her day taking care of a newborn when a few hours later told that the parents (self-proclaimed white supremacists) did not want her assigned to their baby. She sadly complies, but the next day when the baby goes into cardiac arrest, she is alone and hesitates to perform CPR and as a result is charged with murder and her life as a nurse is never the same. Given our current landscape with civil unrest -it is a powerful read about systemic racism and the impact on health equity.

What has been your most interesting/surprising outcome while conducting nursing research?
Discovering that the vast majority of programs of nursing throughout the country were NOT integrating evidence-based tobacco cessation interventions in their curriculum in 2004 (34%) and limited progress continues (44%) and even though the vast majority of programs of nursing were NOT integrating tobacco control policies on their campuses in 2017 (74%) now there is great progress (85%).

What is a fun fact many people may not know about you?
Army brat born in Fukuoka, Japan

What is your Twitter handle?
@ukcondean

About Janie
Dr. Janie Heath was appointed dean and Warwick Professor of Nursing for the UK College of Nursing on August 1, 2014. She was formerly an endowed professor of nursing and the chief academic officer at the University of Virginia and the Medical College of Georgia. She has provided academic leadership for Acute Care Nurse Practitioner and Critical-Care Clinical Nurse Specialist Programs at Georgetown University in Washington and at the University of South Carolina. Dr. Heath earned her Master of Science Degree, with a clinical nurse specialist focus, from the University of Oklahoma and her postmaster’s with an acute-adult nurse practitioner focus from the University of South Carolina. She completed her PhD in Nursing from George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., in 2004. She has more than 43 years of acute and critical care nursing experience in various positions from staff to administration to advanced practice and academic leadership. She has been awarded more than $12 million for academic and/or research initiatives, generated more than 150 publications and abstracts, served on numerous regional and national task forces for tobacco control and advanced practice nursing initiatives. Her primary research program of study involves workforce development for resilient and ethical practices and effective interventions with tobacco-dependent populations in acute and primary care settings. In addition, Dr. Heath served as a member of the board of directors for the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), founded the Nurses for Tobacco Control National Coalition for Nurse Educators (NTCC), appointed the inaugural Distinguished Alumni of Nursing at the University of Oklahoma, is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, the National Academies of Practice and the American Association of Nurse

 

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