Dr. Melissa O’Connor has been appointed Associate Dean for Research and Rudin Professor of Nursing in the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing at Hunter College of the City University of New York, announced the Joan Hansen Grabe Dean of Nursing, Dr. Ann Marie P. Mauro.
Dr. O’Connor is among a small number of national nurse experts in the delivery of home-healthcare services to vulnerable older adults. She also specializes in informatics, gerontological nursing, and transitional care.
“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Melissa O’Connor to our leadership team and faculty,” Dean Mauro said. “As we build Hunter Nursing into a national powerhouse, her expertise in evidence-based methods and sustained commitment to frail older adults meets a critical need in New York and across the United States.”
Dr. O’Connor comes to Hunter from Villanova University, where she serves as the M. Louise Fitzpatrick Endowed Professor in Community and Home Health Nursing. She will join Hunter on January 14, 2025.
Dr. O’Connor is an inaugural Fellow with the Betty Irene Moore Fellowships for Nurse Leaders and Innovators, a highly competitive, national program dedicated to developing the next generation of nurse leaders and innovators. She also was named a Distinguished Educator in Gerontological Nursing by the National Hartford Center for Gerontological Nursing Excellence. She is a Fellow in the highly prestigious and selective American Academy of Nursing and Gerontological Society of America.
Dr. O’Connor was awarded the first-ever Eugenie and Joseph Doyle Research Fellowship from the Center for Home are Policy and Research at VNS Health and a Claire Fagin Post-Doctoral Fellowship from the National Hartford Center for Gerontological Nursing. Her work has been recognized by the Eastern Nursing Research Society with the Rising Star Research Award and the Gerontological Society of America’s Gerontological Nursing Award for a distinguished published research manuscript.
Dr. O’Connor earned a diploma in nursing from the Lankenau Hospital School of Nursing, a baccalaureate degree from Thomas Jefferson University, a master’s in business administration from Eastern University, and PhD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. She has taught and mentored undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students.
