Announcing New Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Informatics department chair
Brenda Zierler (she/her), PhD, RN, FAAN, has been selected as the new department chair of the Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Informatics (BNHI) department at the UW School of Nursing. Her noteworthy depth and breadth of preparation are evidenced in several distinctions, such as the UW SoN’s Kaiser Permanente Endowed Nursing Professorship in Chronic Illness Care, previous director of research, training, and faculty development at the UW Center for Health Sciences Interprofessional Education Practice and Research, a past member of the Institute of Medicine’s Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professions Education, and co-lead of Team Science education and training for the UW Institute of Translational Health Science (ITHS) in the UW School of Medicine.
Dr. Zierler has served in various leadership roles, including as a faculty member, mentor and researcher, with over 20 years of experience in developing, implementing and testing team approaches to clinical care, research and education in various environments. She has held leadership positions in the UW SoN as vice and associate dean of technology innovations in education and research and as vice chair of education in the Department of Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Informatics.
Throughout her career, Dr. Zierler has demonstrated exceptional collaboration, facilitation and leadership skills, and a deep commitment to advancing nursing education. Her PhD teaching subjects include science, leadership and interdisciplinary research teams. She also teaches quality improvement, patient safety and informatics to undergraduate nursing students. She has led interprofessional education and training for UW pre-licensure health profession students using human patient simulators and standardized patients, and trained graduate students (nurse practitioner students, medical residents, dental residents, social work students, and pharmacy residents) in collaborative practice.
Finally, Dr. Zierler has demonstrated commitment to SoN’s values and mission of eradicating health inequity as a member of ITHS Antiracism Committee and as a practitioner. Dr. Zierler recently completed a sabbatical project that involved the development of a Health Equity Quality Improvement Scholar’s Program for Doctor in Nursing Practice students.
Dr. Zierler’s appointment as the BNHI department chair will begin on 12/16/23, pending approval from the Board of Regents. We are confident that her expertise will guide the department in addressing the evolving challenges and opportunities of biobehavioral nursing and will undoubtedly strengthen the school’s guiding mission of advancing nursing education, research and practice.