An alum from the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing has been named the interim Associate Dean for Simulation and Immersive Learning at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing.
Dr. Kristen Brown, DNP, CRNP, CPNP-AC, CHSE-A, FAAN, is a 2001 graduate of Pitt Nursing’s BSN program.
“My undergraduate nursing degree provided me with the foundation for my professional nursing career,” said Dr. Brown. “I learned from outstanding faculty and trained in some of the best hospitals in the world. Most importantly, Pitt School of Nursing prepared me to become a leader.”
Brown is an Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing and the Simulation Strategic Projects Lead for the Johns Hopkins Medicine Simulation Center. She was appointed Associate Dean for Simulation and Immersive Learning following an extensive internal selection process.
“Dr. Kristen Brown, DNP, CRNP, CPNP-AC, CHSE-A, FAAN, has been a distinguished member of our School of Nursing since 2017,” said Robert Atkins, PhD, RN, FAAN, executive vice dean, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. “Over the course of her 22-year nursing career, she has been instrumental in the design, leadership, and study of pioneering simulation- and technology-based programs. Her dedication to simulation education stems from her extensive clinical experience as a pediatric critical care nurse practitioner. For a remarkable 20 years, she has been committed to the care of critically ill children, with 14 of those years serving as a nurse practitioner in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.”
“I am thrilled to serve in the role of Interim Associate Dean for Simulation and Immersive Learning,” Brown said. “As a simulation educator and nurse, I get to combine my love of teaching, technology, and immersive learning to expand simulation-based education.
Brown is the first nurse to be named a Zamierowski Simulation Fellow, a prestigious two-year fellowship centered on simulation center administration, operations, curriculum development, simulation research design, and program implementation. She is also one of only 94 individuals globally to hold the designation of Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator-Advanced as awarded by the Society for Simulation in Healthcare.
“I have worked with Dr. Brown for the past four years in the Society for Simulation in Healthcare and can attest that she richly deserves this promotion,” said Dr. John O’Donnell, DRPH, CRNA, CHSE, FSSH, FAANA, FAAN, professor and chair and director of the Nurse Anesthesia Program at Pitt Nursing. “She is a visionary leader and advocates in simulation education with demonstrated expertise in work with standardized patients, full body simulators and virtual reality!”