School of Nursing Dean Dr. Roberta Waite Honored with Excellence in Governance Award

(April 21, 2022) — Modern Healthcare magazine has selected Roberta Waite, EdD, PMHCNS, RN, MSN, ANEF, FAAN, incoming dean of Georgetown University’s new School of Nursing, to its 2022 class of “Excellence in Governance” award recipients.

The Excellence in Governance award, announced April 16, recognizes health care organization board members who are fostering advancement in culture, mission and performance, and singles out leaders who “have prioritized turning diversity, equity and inclusion and environmental, social and governance from buzzy acronyms into real initiatives.”

Waite was recognized for her service on the board of Trinity Health, a position she has held for nearly a decade. Trinity Health is one of the largest not-for-profit Catholic health care systems in the nation.

“Waite helped spearhead expansion of community health and well-being programs, such as those focused on food and housing insecurity, as well as community outreach with pop-up vaccination clinics and education campaigns during the COVID-19 pandemic,” reads Waite’s citation.

She was also recognized for her contributions to diversifying Trinity’s workforce, “helping set aggressive goals to change the diversity of leadership.”

“My work on the board of Trinity Health has blessed me with the opportunity to pursue two very important areas within health care — both in service to a population underserved by health care systems and also underrepresented in the leadership of these systems,” she said. “I’m pleased that Modern Healthcare has a dedicated avenue for recognizing work that makes a direct and immediate difference for so many.”

Modern Healthcare is the industry’s leading source of health care business and policy news, research and information.

“Dr. Waite’s accomplishments provide tangible examples of real-world, impactful leadership that exemplify the Jesuit values of Georgetown,” said Edward B. Healton, MD, MPH, Georgetown’s executive vice president of health sciences. “We have much to learn from Dr. Waite and are so pleased she’ll be joining us for the launch of a critically important new school responsible for training members of our health care workforce who will carry forward the spirit of Georgetown.”

Waite is a highly regarded nurse leader whose career fuses education, practice, research and community through innovative and transformative strategies. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and the Academy of Nursing Education.

Waite becomes professor of nursing when she joins Georgetown on May 1 and then becomes dean of the university’s new School of Nursing when it launches on July 1. She recently completed her tenure as professor of nursing in the College of Nursing and Health Professions at Drexel University in Philadelphia, and as the school’s associate dean of Community-Centered Health & Wellness and Academic Integration.

Waite’s sustained record of scholarship, as well as education, evaluation and clinical funding center on work in behavioral health, nursing leadership, social and racial justice, and antiracism. She has been primary investigator on numerous grants, and her scholarship — primarily as lead author — has appeared in more than 70 refereed publications and numerous book chapters.

Waite completed her doctorate in education at Widener University with a focus on higher education administration leadership. Following her doctoral work, she held a T32 postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Health Disparities focused on vulnerable women, children and families. She completed her baccalaureate in nursing at Widener, and her master’s in nursing — with a focus on adult psychiatric-mental health nursing — at Penn.