College of Nursing dean honored by alma mater, pays it forward with scholarship
UK College of Nursing Dean and Warwick Professor of Nursing Janie Heath, PhD, APRN-BC, FAAN was recognized as an inaugural distinguished alumni at the University of Oklahoma College of Nursing.
The OU College of Nursing’s Distinguished Alumni Award was established by the college and the alumni board of directors to recognize graduates who demonstrate “outstanding leadership related to the field of nursing or healthcare” and who have made “significant clinical, academic, research or other contributions to nursing or healthcare on a local, state, national or international level.”
Kay Perry and Janie Heath Comanche County Scholarship
Dean Heath also awarded OU College of Nursing Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) to Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) student Tamara Ogle with the first Kay Perry and Janie Heath Comanche County Scholarship. The scholarship honors Heath's late friend and fellow Comanche County Memorial Hospital nurse Kay Perry, an OU LPN to BSN alumna.
"Kay had the perfect disposition for emergency and critical care nursing; she was always calm and cool," said Heath. "Nothing fazed her as she was skilled, patient and eager to teach. She set the bar high every day to serve Oklahomans as well as to meet the demanding nursing responsibilities of providing holistic and comprehensive care to vulnerable populations."
The scholarship supports students from Comanche County, Okla., who are on "non-traditional paths," such as those who earned their LPN or Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) and are now working toward their BSN.
About Dean Janie Heath
Heath was appointed dean and Warwick Professor of Nursing for the UK College of Nursing on August 1, 2014. She was formerly an endowed professor of nursing and the chief academic officer at the University of Virginia and Georgia Health Sciences University, which was formerly the Medical College of Georgia and is now Georgia Regents University. She has provided academic leadership for Acute Care Nurse Practitioner and Critical-Care Clinical Nurse Specialist programs at Georgetown University in Washington and at the University of South Carolina.
Heath started her nursing career in 1976 with an ADN degree from Cameron University in Lawton, Okla., where she later earned her BSN. In 1991, she earned her Master of Science degree, with a clinical nurse specialist focus, from OU and her post-master’s with an acute-adult nurse practitioner focus from the University of South Carolina. She completed her PhD in nursing at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., in 2004.
She has more than 43 years of acute and critical care nursing experience in various positions from staff to administration to advanced practice and academia. She has been awarded more than $12 million for academic and research initiatives, written more than 150 publications and abstracts, served on numerous regional and national task forces for tobacco control, and advanced nursing initiatives. Her primary research program of study involves workforce development using the Rx for Change: Clinician-Assisted Tobacco Cessation Curriculum to effectively intervene with tobacco-dependent populations in acute and primary care settings. Additionally, Heath served as a member of the board of directors for the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), was honored as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, the National Academies of Practice and the National Association of Nurse Practitioners, and founded the Nurses for Tobacco Control national coalition for nurse educators.
