A world-class city filled with art and culture and an incredible campus that offers cutting edge resources–that’s what students receive at Penn Nursing. And that’s just the start. Penn Nursing and the wider university offer something for everyone, as well as a lifelong community.

Penn Nursing is globally known for educating dynamic nurses—because our School values evidence-based science and health equity. That’s where our expertise lies, whether in research, practice, community health, or beyond. Everything we do upholds a through-line of innovation, encouraging our exceptional students, alumni, and faculty share their knowledge and skills to reshape health care.

Penn Nursing students are bold and unafraid, ready to embrace any challenge that comes their way. Whether you are exploring a career in nursing or interested in advancing your nursing career, a Penn Nursing education will help you meet your goals and become an innovative leader, prepared to change the face of health and wellness.

Penn Nursing is the #1-ranked nursing school in the world. Its highly-ranked programs help develop highly-skilled leaders in health care who are prepared to work alongside communities to tackle issues of health equity and social justice to improve health and wellness for everyone.

Penn Nursing’s rigorous academic curricula are taught by world renowned experts, ensuring that students at every level receive an exceptional Ivy League education. From augmented reality classrooms and clinical simulations to coursework that includes experiential global travel to clinical placements in top notch facilities, a Penn Nursing education prepares our graduates to lead.

Penn Nursing Focuses on Achieving Equitable Primary Care

Data shows that unless the pattern of furnishing primary health care, particularly to underserved groups in both urban and rural areas, is drastically improved, these groups will suffer in inequitable and unnecessary ways. It is clear that the primary care workforce must be expanded and diversified.

February 14, 2023
Antonia M. Villarruel, PhD, RN, FAAN, Professor and Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing, and Julie Sochalski, PhD, RN, FAAN, Associate Pr...
Antonia M. Villarruel, PhD, RN, FAAN, Professor and Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing, and Julie Sochalski, PhD, RN, FAAN, Associate Professor of Nursing and Associate Dean for Academic Programs.

A solution is offered in a commentary published in the journal NAM Perspectives about equitable primary care. Two leading nurse researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing) provide insight into a unique program designed to promote community-engaged primary care nurse practitioner education. The commentary, “Advancing Primary Care with Underserved Communities: A Case Study of the Leonard A. Lauder Community Care Nurse Practitioner Program,” is now available online.

“Built upon a strong university and school mission and values that align with health equity, the Leonard A. Lauder program augments nurse practitioner education at Penn with focused integration of the social determinants of health at the point of care and development of intersectoral leadership,” explains Antonia M. Villarruel, PhD, RN, FAAN, Professor and Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing and co-author of the commentary.

Leonard A. Lauder fellows participate in experiential and collaborative learning in and with communities where at least half of their clinical education occurs. The program is building a robust alumni network to create lifelong support to Leonard A. Lauder fellows to enhance and support community-based practice and leadership that will advance the health and well-being of communities.

“The $125 million investment by Leonard A. Lauder is a powerful catalyst for change, one that could have a significant multiplier effect if met with public and private investment in primary care workforce development,” says Julie Sochalski, PhD, RN, FAAN, Associate Professor of Nursing and Associate Dean for Academic Programs at Penn Nursing and co-author of the commentary.

The program provides a critically important case study for achieving equitable primary care. “The commitment to building a workforce ready to meet the challenges of improving health outcomes in rural and underserved communities, and partnering with those communities in that quest, signals to the broader stakeholder community sharing these same goals—the time is now,” adds Villarruel.

More Stories