The Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University is one of only 32 schools of nursing nationwide to receive a grant to increase the number of nurses holding PhDs. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Future of Nursing Scholars program will provide financial support, mentoring and leadership development to nurses who commit to earn their PhDs in three years. The school will select nursing students to receive this prestigious scholarship.

The Future of Nursing Scholars program is a multi-funder initiative. In addition to RWJF, Johnson & Johnson, Inc., Independence Blue Cross Foundation, Northwell Health (formerly North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System), Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Sharp HealthCare, Rush University Medical Center, and a Michigan funders collaborative* are supporting the Future of Nursing Scholars grants to schools of nursing this year.

"We are extremely grateful to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for recognizing the importance of advanced education in nursing,” says Linda McCauley, PhD, RN, dean of Emory’s Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing.  "This acknowledgement will have a positive effect on learning as we continue our goal of becoming one of the most innovative learning and research environments.”

The school will select scholars in March and students will begin the Future of Nursing Scholars program this summer.

In its landmark nursing report, the Institute of Medicine recommended that the country double the number of nurses with doctorates; doing so will prepare and enable nurses to lead change to advance health, promote nurse-led science and discovery, and put more educators in place to prepare the next generation of nurses. The Future of Nursing Scholars program is intended to help address that recommendation.

 "Since the release of the IOM report, enrollment in doctorate of nursing practice programs has increased  an incredible 160 percent from 2010 to 2014. However, the increase of PhD enrollment has only been 14.6 percent. At RWJF, we are striving to grow the number of nurses with PhDs who will be prepared to assume leadership positions across all levels,” says Susan Hassmiller, PhD, RN, FAAN, co-director of the program and RWJF’s senior adviser for nursing.