The Center for Nursing Research & Innovation

Introduction

Administration

The Center reflects the strategic vision of the UCSF Director of Patient Care Services, the Vice Presidents for Patient Care at Stanford and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, and the Dean of the UCSF School of Nursing, whose partnership makes the Center possible. The administration of the Center benefits from the formal and informal advice and direction from faculty in the School of Nursing, clinical and administrative leaders in Patient Care Services, and others who lend their insight and expertise to the work of the Center.

Center Director - Nancy Donaldson

Nancy Donaldson, RN, DNSc, FAAN [pictured] has served as Director of the Center since 1999. Donaldson is also Clinical Professor in the Department of Physiological Nursing at the UCSF School of Nursing.

Nancy Donaldson, RN, DNSc, FAAN

Since its inception, she has served as Co- Principal Investigator of the California Nursing Outcomes Coalition (CalNOC), the largest ongoing statewide prospective nursing quality measurement research and development project in the nation and a major contributor of data to the American Nurses Association's National Database for Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI).

Donaldson is the founding Co-Editor for the Online Journal of Clinical Innovations, in collaboration with Cinahl Information Systems.

Prior to joining the Center, Donaldson was Executive Director, Clinical Effectiveness for UniHealth America, and before that held the position of Director of Nursing Research at UC Irvine Medical Center. She is a co-author of the book, Case Management: A Guide to Strategic Evaluation (1998, Mosby Year Book, Inc.) and numerous journal articles.

Donaldson received her BSN and MSN from California State University in Los Angeles and her DNSc at the UCSF School of Nursing. For more detailed information, please see the Director's CV.

Center Associate Director - Mary Foley

Mary E. Foley, MS, RN, Immediate Past President, ANA, is the Associate Director in the Center for Research and Nursing Innovation at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where she is also a PhD student in nursing policy. In 2003 she was a Regents Lecturer at UCSF and Visiting Assistant Professor in the Masters entry program.

Mary Foley, MS, RN

Mary is immediate past president of the American Nurses Association. She was previously employed for 19 years at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco, a member of Catholic Healthcare West. She was a medical-surgical staff nurse at Saint Francis for 17 years. In 1997, she became the Director of Nursing and Safety Officer. She was a part-time clinical faculty member at San Francisco State University School of Nursing and was the faculty adviser for the student nurses association at the school.

A registered nurse for over 30 years, Foley has been active in the health care policy arena. She continues to write and lecture about health care policy, improving the workplace, promoting safe care, and worker health and safety. Foley was named for the second year as one of the top 100 "most powerful" in US healthcare system by Modern Healthcare, and remains one of the few nurses on the list. She was appointed to the California Tuberculosis Elimination Task Force in the Department of Health Services from 1993 to 1994, the Mayor's HIV Task Force for the City of San Francisco in 1989, and California's RN Special Advisory Committee on the Nursing Shortage for the Department of Consumer Affairs in 1989. She is a member of the Glide Clinic Oversight Board.

She also serves as a project consultant for the Training for the Development of Innovative Control Technology (TDICT) Project, which brings together health care workers, product designers, and industrial hygienists to better design and evaluate medical devices and equipment. The TDICT Project is also a partner with the ANA.

Foley has held numerous elected and appointed positions with the ANA at both the state and national levels. She currently serves on the ANA Political Action Committee as Vice Chair, and has been elected ANA/C Vice President. She served as ANA's second vice president from 1994 to 1996 and as first vice president from 1996 to 2000. She was chairperson of the Constituent Assembly from 1992-1994. She was an official representative from the United States at the 1997, 1999 and 2001 meetings of the International Council of Nurses (ICN). She continues as a member of the National Patient Safety Foundation Board of Directors and as an advisory member of the Partnership for Patient Safety (p4ps).

At the state level, Foley served as president and treasurer of the California Nurses Association when it was an ANA-affiliated organization. Her professional organizational involvement began with the National Student Nurses Association (NSNA), where she served as president in 1974-1975. She is the first NSNA past-president to be elected ANA President.

Foley received her nursing diploma in 1973 from New England Deaconness Hospital School of Nursing, her BSN in 1976 from Boston University School of Nursing in Massachusetts, and her Master's of Science in Nursing Administration and Occupational Health from the University of California in San Francisco in 1994.

Senior Nurse Scientist - Susan Shapiro

The Center is pleased to welcome Susan Shapiro RN PhD to our team July 1, 2008. In the year ahead Susan will be sustaining her current role as facilitator of research and evidenced-based practice at UCSF Medical Center, Assistant Clinical Professor in the School of Nursing, while she begins actively participating in several Center projects/studies, including assisting Nancy Donaldson and Mary Foley with the Research and Operations support of  the California Nursing Outcomes Coalition (CalNOC).

Susan Shapiro, RN, PhD

Susan has been instrumental in team teaching the Center's Evidence-based Practice Fellows Program, a joint venture with six Bay Area Hospitals, with Nancy Donaldson. In the year ahead, Susan will increase her involvement in the EBP Fellows Program, handling program coordination and web-based courseware development.

Susan is passionate about bridging nursing research and practice and has a vibrant spirit of inquiry. In October Susan will represent the Center at the Council for Advancement of Nursing Science meeting (CANS) and presenting the results of our RWJF Rapid Response Team Initiative Evaluation. In her role as co-investigator for that project, Susan and the research team completed visits to 18 hospitals in 13 states that had adopted RRTs and her contributions to that study were invaluable. We are fortunate to have 80% of Susan's effort in the year ahead.