SCHOLAR DIRECTORY

Rebecca M. Patton, MSN, RN, CNOR, FAAN, is past president of the American Nurses Association and currently holds the inaugural Endowed Perioperative Nursing Chair, Lucy Jo Atkinson Scholar in Perioperative Nursing at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University. As a nurse, author, and lecturer, Ms. Patton has presented extensively. She has testified before Congress and met with major policymakers, including Presidents Obama, Bush, and Clinton, when she lobbied on health care issues. Selected twice by the State Department Ms. Patton served on the U.S. delegation to the World Health Assembly in Geneva. In 2015, Ms. Patton partnered with the American Nurses Foundation to create an endowed Washington-based policy fellowship program focused on maximizing nurses’ placement at the highest policymaking tables and fostering nurses’ policy activism. Her newly published textbook, Nurses Making Policy: From Bedside to Boardroom, is donating one-hundred percent of its editors’ royalties to support the fund. Ms. Patton has received numerous recognitions, including the 2016 Honorary Membership National Student Nurses Association; 2014 American Nurses Association Distinguished Member Award; the 2013 Sigma Theta Tau International Founder Award for Excellence in Fostering Professional Standards; Named as one of the “100 Most Influential People in Healthcare” by Modern Healthcare magazine in 2009 and 2010, and was inducted as a fellow into the American Academy of Nursing in 2010. Ms. Patton holds a BSN degree from Kent State University and an MSN degree from Case Western Reserve University, where she is currently pursuing her DNP degree.