Faculty Member Inducted as American Academy of Nursing Fellow

School of Nursing Professor Dr. Patricia Watts Kelley was among 165 nurse leaders inducted as a fellow to the prestigious American Academy of Nursing (AAN) during the AAN’s annual Transforming Health, Driving Policy Conference, on Oct. 22, in Washington, D.C.

Nominees for the fellowship—which recognizes individuals for their leadership in education, management and policy, and their work to improve the health of the nation—are selected based in part on the extent to which their careers have influenced health policies and the health and well-being of all.

“Selection into the academy is an honor bestowed to less than one percent of nurses,” said Nursing Dean Dr. Mary Ellen Glasgow. “Duquesne is among the elite nursing schools to have a faculty member—Dr. Patricia Kelley—inducted this year, which speaks to the caliber of our faculty.”

As a veteran, Kelley joined the school of nursing to help enrich the collective experience of the nursing faculty and to further enhance the military-friendly aspects of student life.

Prior to her Navy retirement, Kelley was deputy director of nursing and allied health research for the Navy Medicine Research and Development Center. In addition to a lengthy career as a Navy nurse and officer, she served in the Office of Research and Development in the Department of Veteran Affairs.

Kelley, whose research interests includes clinical knowledge development and continuity of care of wounded services members, also is an associate nursing professor at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Currently a member of the Navy Safe Harbor Foundation’s board of directors, she at one time served as the specialty consultant to the U.S. Navy Surgeon General for Nursing Research.

“We are also pleased to honor Duquesne alumna, Cindy Miller Murphy, and doctoral student Michael Neft, who were also inducted into the academy for their contributions to the nursing discipline,” added Glasgow.

The AAN serves the public and the nursing profession by advancing health policy and practice through the generation, synthesis and dissemination of nursing knowledge. Its more than 2,200 fellows are nursing’s most accomplished leaders in education, management, practice and research.