UofL School of Nursing faculty members and preceptor to be Inducted as Fellows of the American Academy of Nursing
September 1, 2021
The University of Louisville School of Nursing announces that Dr. Holly Wei, PhD, RN, CPN, NEA-BC, Dr. Whitney Nash, PhD, APRN, FAAP, and School of Nursing preceptor and mentor Dr. Ruth Carrico, PhD, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, CIC, FSHEA, FNAP, have been selected to be fellows of the American Academy of Nursing. Wei is the Assistant Dean of the PhD program. Nash is the Associate Dean of Practice and Service Assistant Vice President of Interprofessional Practice Partnership. And Carrico is a professor and family nurse practitioner with the University of Louisville School of Medicine, division of Infectious Diseases.
Induction into the Academy is a significant milestone in a nurse leader’s career in which their accomplishments are honored by their colleagues within and outside the profession. Fellows are selected based on their contributions and impact to advance the public’s health.
“I’m grateful the academy is recognizing these individuals. The American Academy of Nursing is considered the premier organization to promote health policy to advance health care. Members are the most accomplished in the nursing profession,” School of Nursing Dean Sonya Hardin said.
The Academy is an honorific society that recognizes nursing's most accomplished leaders in policy, research, practice, administration, and academia. Academy Fellows, from nearly 40 countries, hold a wide variety of roles influencing health care. Induction into the Fellowship represents more than recognition of one's accomplishments within the nursing profession. Fellows contribute their collective expertise to the Academy, engaging with health leaders nationally and globally to improve health and achieve health equity by impacting policy through nursing leadership, innovation, and science.
Wei earned her PhD in Nursing from the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. Her research interest and contributions are organizational cultures, leadership development, stress and burnout management, resilience-building strategies, epigenetic biomarkers, and relationships between parenting behaviors and children’s outcomes.
“Being a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing is a tremendous honor. To me, it means responsibility, accountability, and trust. As an academy fellow, I will continue to advance my research to promote organizational excellence and patient care quality, inspire the next-generation nurse leaders to influence policy change in healthcare delivery, and increase my global initiatives to improve Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and human caring in healthcare,” Wei said.
Nash completed her master's and PhD degrees in nursing at the University of Louisville. She has been a registered nurse since 1987, an adult APRN since 1997, and an educator for more than 25 years. Her most recent research has focused on the impact of COVID-19 visitation restrictions in long-term care. She has conducted research in interprofessional education and practice and has considerable experience translating research findings into curricular changes and project development.
“I am very proud to become a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing particularly because it positions me to advocate for my patients, students, fellow nurses and the community at the national and international level. The opportunity to collaborate with such an incredible network of health care experts is an incredible honor,” Nash said.
Carrico has provided clinical experiences for a full array of nursing students and research collaboration with faculty members, all in the areas of infectious diseases and infection prevention and control. She serves as director of epidemiological research in the University’s Center of Excellence for Research in Infectious Diseases (CERID) and director of the Center for Education and Training in Infection Prevention. Carrico has received training specific for healthcare epidemiology at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in conjunction with the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA).
Through a competitive, rigorous application process, the Academy’s Fellow Selection Committee, which is comprised of current Fellows, reviewed hundreds of applications to select the 2021 Fellows. Wei, Nash and Carrico were three of 225 individuals selected to be inducted into the 2021 Class of Fellows. The 2021 Fellows represent 38 states, the District of Columbia, and 18 countries.
The 2021 inductees will be recognized for their significant contributions to health and health care at the Academy’s annual Health Policy Conference, taking place on October 7-9, 2021. This year’s conference and induction ceremony will be offered in a hybrid format, allowing attendees to participate either in-person (at the Marriott Marquis in Washington, DC) or virtually allowing for maximum attendance through an inclusive format where colleagues, friends, and family members who may not be able to attend the event in person are able to participate. This year’s induction ceremony, which will feature personalized video vignettes and live streaming of each inductee, will be a special way to recognize the new Fellows as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to challenge traditional methods of celebration.
Learn more about the Academy and visit the hybrid policy conference website for more details.
About the American Academy of Nursing
The American Academy of Nursing serves the public by advancing health policy and practice through the generation, synthesis, and dissemination of nursing knowledge. Academy Fellows are inducted into the organization for their extraordinary contributions to improve health locally and globally. With more than 2,800 Fellows, the Academy represents nursing’s most accomplished leaders in policy, research, administration, practice, and academia.
