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.

Announcing the Johnson & Johnson Nursing Innovation Fellows

The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing is pleased to announce that ten teams from health systems around the country have been selected for the Johnson & Johnson Nurse Innovation Fellowship Program (JJNIF), powered by Penn Nursing and the Wharton School–a ground-breaking, one-year, team-based nursing fellowship for Chief Nursing Officers, nurse executives, and senior nurse leaders.

May 24, 2023

The fellowship is unique in that two nurse leaders – one Chief Nursing Officer or nurse executive and one other senior nurse leader from the same organization – participate and work together to address a real-world challenge their health system is facing using human-centered design and business and leadership principals specific to innovation. The fellows come from geographically diverse areas from across the US. They come from large and small health systems as well as stand-alone hospitals and public health systems in urban and rural locations. The fellows for 2023 are:

Blythedale Children’s Hospital, Valhalla, New York

  • Jill M. Wegener MSN, RN, Senior Vice President, Chief Nursing Officer
  • Kara Dyer-Dombroski MSN, RN, Director of Nursing

Corewell Health South, Saint Joseph, Michigan

  • Natalie Baggio MBA, BSN, RN, Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Executive
  • Sandra Plank DNP, CNOR, NPD-BC, Senior Director of Clinical Education, Talent Development & Resiliency

Hawai‘i Pacific Health, Honolulu, Hawai‘i

  • Amy Thomas, MSN, APRN, System Chief Nurse Executive
  • Tracy Methered, MBA-HCM, BSN, RN, Director of Clinical Informatics

James J. Peters Veteran Administration Medical Center, Bronx, New York

  • Noreen B. Brennan PhD, RN-BC, NEA-BC, Chief Nurse Executive
  • Salvacion Francisco EdD, OL, MSN, RN, Deputy Chief Nurse Executive

Jefferson Health System, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

  • Colleen Mallozzi MBA, RN, Senior Vice President and Chief Nurse Informatics Officer
  • Charlene Eltman MSN, RN, RN-BC, Division Director Clinical Informatics

North Carolina Division of Public Health, Raleigh, North Carolina

  • Susan Haynes Little, DNP, RN, PHNA-BC, CPH, CPM, FAAN, Chief Public Health Nursing Officer
  • Angela Callicutt, MSN, CPHQ, Assistant Director of Nursing

Olympic Medical Center, Port Angeles, Washington

  • Vickie Swanson, MSN, Chief Nursing Officer
  • Aaron Possin, MSN, MBA, Emergency Department Director

Trinity Health, Illinois and Indiana Regions

  • Peggy Norton-Rosko, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, Regional Chief Nursing Officer, (Illinois and Indiana)
  • Dawn Vollers, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, Regional Director (Maywood, Illinois)

West Virginia University Health System, Morgantown, West Virginia

  • Melanie M. Heuston, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, Chief Nurse Executive
  • Lya M. Stroupe, DNP, Director of Nursing Professional Practice and Education

Yale New Haven Hospital, New Haven, Connecticut

  • Ena Williams, PhD, MBA, RN, CENP, Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer
  • Jeannette Bronsord, DNP, Executive Director of Surgical Services

The fellowship will immerse participants in the innovation process by focusing on human-centered design and design thinking methodologies and will teach fellows how to apply it to their specific challenge area. The innovation curriculum provided by Penn Nursing will be paired with business acumen, change management and strategic leadership skills development through Wharton Executive Education. At the conclusion of the fellowship, fellows will pitch their innovative solutions with the goal of bringing that solution back to their healthcare system to implement.

During the fellowship, participants will work on a health care problem specific to their health system. While two-person executive leadership teams from each health system are the selected fellows, fellows may invite extended team members from their health system who can help them identify the problem and develop their solutions to attend virtual sessions as well. The program will conclude with a final in-person pitch session where fellows will describe the problem they are addressing and their recommended solution.

The program begins with a virtual half-day kick-off meeting in early June 2023, followed by an in-person 5-day Summer Innovation Institute at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, from June 26-30, 2023. Following that there are three, 2-day virtual synchronous sessions (one each quarter) throughout the year and a 2-day in-person closing event at Johnson & Johnson’s headquarters in New Brunswick, NJ, on May 22-23, 2024.