Former American Academy of Nursing President to visit GRU

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Nurses are practical innovators, introducing new methods and ways of thinking to solve problems that plague our health care system. Their role as innovators in healthcare is the focus of a daylong visit from Dr. Diana Mason, former president of the American Academy of Nursing.

A noted policy leader in nursing and healthcare, Mason will speak at Georgia Regents University on Thursday, Nov. 5. The day’s events include presentations on local nursing innovation and meetings with GRU nurses and faculty.

Media opportunities during Mason’s visit include a 10 a.m. panel discussion and 2 p.m. distinguished guest lecture in the Health Sciences building, 987 St. Sebastian Way. Mason is also available for one-on-one interviews to speak about challenges nurse innovators face in sustaining and spreading new models of care and GRU’s role in new national nursing partnerships and collaborations.

“This is an important topic for us to consider as a college and as a community,” said Dr. Lucy N. Marion, dean of the GRU College of Nursing. “Dr. Mason comes to us with a unique perspective on the practical innovations nurses are using across the country to address problems in our health care system. Locally, we’re seeing the positive affects of programs like Healthy Grandparents and Fit Body & Soul. Through conversations and meetings like this one, we’re able to share our models of success and learn more about the new thinking and methods that are proving successful elsewhere as well.”

Mason is co-founder and co-director of the Center for Health, Media, and Policy at Hunter College, City University of New York. She also serves as strategic adviser for the Campaign for Action, an initiative to implement the recommendations from the Institute of Medicine’s Future of Nursing report, to which she contributed.

Mason has produced and moderated a weekly radio program on health and health policy for almost 30 years. She served as editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Nursing for over a decade, and blogs for the Center for Health, Media and Policy and the Journal of the American Medical Association News Forum. Since its inception, she has served on the National Advisory Committee for Kaiser Health News.