Pitt Nursing Graduation Keynote Speaker Mary Wakefield named one of the top 25 Women in Healthcare

Mary Wakefield, PhD, RN, FAAN, administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), was named one of the 2013 Top 25 Women in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare.com.

Dr. Wakefield is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and was elected to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies in 2004. She served on the IOM committee that produced the landmark reports To Err is Human and Crossing the Quality Chasm. She also cochaired the IOM committee that produced the report Health Professions Education, and chaired the committee that produced the report Quality through Collaboration: Health Care in Rural America.

Wakefield began her career as a nurse, served as chief of staff to two North Dakota senators and as director of the Center for Health Policy Research and Ethics at George Mason University. She also was on the faculty of the University of North Dakota as associate dean for rural health in its School of Medicine & Health Sciences. In addition, she worked on site as a consultant to the World Health Organization's Global Programme on AIDS in Geneva, Switzerland.

She was named administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) by President Barack Obama in 2009. An agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, HRSA is the primary federal agency responsible for improving access to health care services for people who are uninsured, isolated, or medically vulnerable. Over the past two years HRSA has awarded more than 28 million in grants to the University of Pittsburgh, including almost 2.5 million in grants to the School of Nursing.

Dr. Wakefield will be the keynote speaker at the School of Nursing’s Spring Graduation Ceremony on Friday, April 26, 2013 at 4:00 p.m. at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh.