Beth A. Brooks, PhD, RN, FACHE, president of Oak Point University, has been named one of only 20 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Executive Nurse Fellows from across the country for 2012. Brooks joins a select group of nurse leaders chosen to participate in this three-year, world-class leadership development program that is enhancing nurse leaders’ effectiveness in improving the nation’s healthcare system.
Dr. Beth A. Brooks, president of Oak Point University, and Sister Carol Keehan, DC, president of the Catholic Health Association of the United States, at the University’s 2012 spring commencement.
Prior to her appointment as president by the University’s Board of Directors in October 2011, Brooks served as interim president over a period of ten months. Brooks began her career as a nurse manager, and has also worked in a national marketing communications agency where she specialized in healthcare employment marketing, and as a graduate nurse program director for a small, faith-based university. Brooks is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. She is an alumna of the 150 Most Influential People in Valparaiso University’s history.
Begun by RWJF in 1998, the RWJF Executive Nurse Fellows (ENF) program strengthens the leadership capacity of nurses who aspire to shape healthcare locally and nationally. The program will provide Brooks and her colleagues with coaching, education and other support to strengthen their abilities to lead teams and organizations in improving health and healthcare.
“The Executive Nurse Fellows program is going to help me lead more effectively, and help the University grow,” Brooks said. “We’re working to establish a nurse-managed clinic in the community, and I think the skills I learn from this program will help me advocate for that and for our nurse practitioner faculty and students. I’m thrilled and honored to be named an Executive Nurse Fellow. Everybody tells me it’s life-changing, and I’m looking forward to beginning the journey.”
Executive Nurse Fellows hold senior leadership positions in health services, scientific and academic organizations, public health and community-based organizations or systems, and national professional, governmental and policy organizations. They continue in their current positions during their fellowships, and during the fellowship each develops, plans and implements a new initiative to improve healthcare delivery in her or his community.
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