Colleen Conway-Welch, PhD, RN, FAAN

Dr. Conway-Welch has served as Dean of Vanderbilt University's school of nursing since 1984. Among many other positions, she served on the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare from 1998 to 1999, was named by President Reagan to his Commission on the HIV Epidemic, and is former president of Friends of the National Institutes of Health, National Institute for Nursing Research. She is the founder and director of the International Nursing Coalition for Mass Casualty Education, an international coalition of representatives of Schools of Nursing, nursing accrediting bodies, nursing specialty organizations and governmental agencies interested in promoting mass casualty education for nurses. She was recently named by President Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to be a member of the Board of Regents of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, the Healthcare Leadership Council and corporate boards of CaremarkRx, Rehabcare, Ardent Health Services, and Pinnacle Financial Partners and earned her Ph.D. in nursing from New York University, her M.S.N. from the Catholic University of America and her B.S.N. from Georgetown University. She has received honorary doctorates from Cumberland University, Georgetown University and the University of Colorado School of Nursing.