Jonas Center for Nursing and Veterans Healthcare to Fund UCSF Doctoral Nursing Students

UCSF School of Nursing Awarded Grant from Jonas Center for Nursing and Veterans Healthcare to Fund Doctoral Nursing Students

Grant is part of a national initiative to support 1,000 nurse scholars in all 50 States

San Francisco, CA, February 8, 2016 – UC San Francisco (UCSF) School of Nursing today announced that with a new grant from the Jonas Center for Nursing and Veterans Healthcare, matched by UCSF, it will fund scholarships for doctoral nursing students in 2016. As a recipient of the Jonas Center grant, UCSF School of Nursing is part of a national effort to stem the faculty shortage and prepare the next generation of nurses – critical as a clinical nurse shortage is anticipated just as an aging population requires care.

The UCSF School of Nursing Jonas Scholars join more than 1,000 future nurse educators and leaders at 140 universities across all 50 states supported by Jonas Center programs, the Jonas Nurse Leaders Scholars Program and Jonas Veterans Healthcare Program (JVHP). These scholarships support nurses pursuing PhDs and DNPs, the terminal degrees in the field. “We are pleased the award allows our School to prepare a greater number of future nurse faculty leaders,” said UCSF School of Nursing Dean David Vlahov, RN, PhD, FAAN.

As the nation’s leading philanthropic funder of graduate nursing education, the Jonas Center is addressing the critical need for qualified nursing faculty. U.S. nursing schools turned away nearly 70,000 qualified applicants from baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs in 2014 due in large part to an insufficient number of faculty[i]. Further, nearly two-thirds of registered nurses over age 54 say they are considering retirement[ii].

“In 2008, we set an ambitious goal to support 1,000 Jonas Nurse Scholars. This year, on our Center’s 10th anniversary, we celebrate this achievement and amazed by the talent of this cohort of future nurse leaders,” said Donald Jonas, who co-founded the Center with Barbara Jonas, his wife. “In the decade to come, we look forward to continuing to work with our partner nursing schools and to the great impact that the Jonas Scholars will have on improving healthcare around the world.”

The UCSF School of Nursing Jonas Scholars will begin their graduate careers in the fall and will be supported through 2018 as they focus on critical health priorities.

These new Jonas Scholars, who will be announced at a later date, will join three previous Jonas Scholars among our PhD graduates and students:

  • Norlissa Cooper, RN, MS, PhD student
  • Schola Matovu, RN, MSN, PhD(c)
  • Denise Wishner, RN, PhD(c), MSN, PHN

“This generosity has tremendous impact, advancing the work of our nursing research,” said UCSF School of Nursing Dean David Vlahov, RN, PhD, FAAN.

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UCSF School of Nursing is part of a world-renowned health sciences campus and a leader in nursing education since 1907.

UCSF is a leading university dedicated to transforming health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. Founded in 1864 as a medical college, UCSF now includes top-ranked graduate schools of dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy; a graduate division with world-renowned programs in the biological sciences, a preeminent biomedical research enterprise and top-tier hospitals, UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals.

 

[i] American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2014-2015 Enrollment and Graduations in Baccalaureate and Graduate Programs in Nursing

[ii] AMN Healthcare, 2015 Survey of Registered Nurses: Viewpoints on Retirement, Education and Emerging Roles