Margaret M. Cotroneo, PhD, APRN

Associate Professor Emerita of Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing

Dr. Cotroneo joined the School of Nursing community in 1983 and held a joint appointment with the School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry. Her contributions to the discipline of nursing have centered on teaching and studying the interface of families, systems, and health, with a focus on relational dynamics.

For many years, Dr. Cotroneo directed the School’s master’s program in psychiatricmental health nursing, consistently ranked among the top three in the country. In addition, Dr. Cotroneo is a Fellow of the American Family Therapy Academy and co-directs Penn’s cross-disciplinary Master’s in Public Health program.

As one of the School’s most internationally-committed faculty members, Dr. Cotroneo taught and consulted throughout Europe. Collaborating with European colleagues, she created the School’s first short term study abroad course, “Comparing Health Care Systems in an Intercultural Context.” She accompanied students to Germany, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, the Netherlands, and Italy, encouraging them to learn more about their own culture through the lens of other cultures. In 1998, she was awarded a Fulbright Professorship to Germany, the first member of the standing faculty to be so honored.

Strongly committed to the notion of engaged scholarship, Dr. Cotroneo led many funded projects focused on community-based health services, including the Division of Nursing-Department of Health and Human Services special projects grant that opened the Health Annex at the Francis J. Myers Recreation Center in 1995. She served as faculty director of this nurse-managed healthcare center, unique for its pioneering integration of primary care and behavioral health in the nursing center model.