Marla Salmon ScD, RN, FAAN

Marla E. Salmon is Professor of Nursing and Global Health at the University of Washington. She is former dean of both the University of Washington and Emory University Schools of Nursing, and has worked in academic, policy, and practice settings in both nursing and public health schools over the course of her career. Her career has focused on health workforce policy and capacity building in both global and US contexts, working with governments, international agencies and other health–related entities. Her recent work focuses on social finance and enterprise in the health sector, particularly with respect to opportunities for investment in nursing and midwifery as means for strengthening health systems, empowering women, and providing decent work and career possibilities for poor and marginalized people. She is also engaged in work focusing on women in governance roles.
Salmon has served in leadership and advisory roles, including as Director of the Division of Nursing, US Department of Health and Human Services and Chair of the Global Advisory Group for Nursing and Midwifery of the World Health Organization; member, the White House Task Force on Health Care Reform (Clinton Administration), the National Advisory Committee for the Institute of Nursing Research of the National Institutes of Health; and the Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing’s Future; and, as consultant to the World Bank, the, World Health Organization, and the Commonwealth Health Minister’s Secretariat for Nursing and Midwifery.

Salmon has extensive governance experience and is currently a member of the Board of Directors for Grifols, Inc. and IESAbroad. Her past board experience includes service as Trustee for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; member of the Board of the National Center for Healthcare Leadership, and Sigma Theta Tau, International. Salmon holds a doctorate in health policy and administration from the Johns Hopkins University, School of Hygiene and Public Health, degrees in political science and nursing from the University of Portland, two honorary degrees, and was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Cologne (Germany) and a W.K. Kellogg National Leadership Fellow. Salmon is a member of the Institute of Medicine, and Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.

 

Education

• BSN, University of Portland, 1972
• BA, University of Portland, 1971
• ScD, Johns Hopkins University, 1977
• MSN, University of Portland, 1999

What classes do you teach?

I’m currently teaching as a clinical instructor for undergraduate students in community health nursing.

What do you love about the UW School of Nursing?

The many people who see nursing as their way of making the world a better place.

Department

Child, Family, and Population Health Nursing

Research Areas

• Health Equity

Research Centers

• Center for Global Health Nursing