The Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing produces nursing leaders who are transforming health care through science, education, practice, and policy worldwide. It has 638 baccalaureate, more than 351 masters, and 28 PhD, and 119 DNP students as well as 10 postdoctoral fellows. The number of PhD students and post-doctoral fellows includes those participating in the NINR-supported T32 program focused on interventions in chronic illness. Students who complete their degrees go on to become national and international leaders in patient care, public health, government, and education.
The school offers a dual-degree program with several colleges, providing undergraduates with a strong background in liberal arts and nursing. The school’s master’s program offers opportunities to specialize in advanced nursing practice in nine specialty areas with training provided in a number of clinical settings and roles. Our DNP program focuses on two tracks: Health Systems Leadership and Community. Graduates of our programs are qualified to seek certification as nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, and/or clinical nurse specialists. A dual-degree master’s program is available with the Rollins School of Public Health, as is a dual master’s in bioethics with the Laney Graduate School. The school’s PhD program is focused on generating new knowledge to improve health and health care quality and developing the next generation of nurse scientists and educators who will change the face of health care. The program also prepares our students to become researchers, and since 2010, our PhD students have received 12 NIH NRSA fellowships. The school offers accelerated BSN/MSN and distance based BSN programs for students with degrees in other fields who want to serve the community as advanced practice nurses.
In 2021, the school’s ranking is 5th nationally in NIH funding among schools of nursing and received $17.9 million in external sponsored funding and $9.6 million in National Institutes of Health research funding in fiscal year 2019. U.S. News & World Report ranked the school’s graduate programs 2nd overall, its doctor of nursing practice program 8th, and its family nurse practitioner program 3rd in the nation. Major programs include the Fuld Fellowship, targeting second-career students with interest in serving vulnerable populations or palliative care patients; the Lillian Carter Center for Global Health and Social Responsibility; and the Maternal and Newborn Health in Ethiopia Partnership.
The school has 204 full and part-time faculty and instructors, and students can learn from adjunct faculty at some 500 clinical sites, including an alternative winter break in three countries and a multi-university, multidisciplinary summer program with Georgia migrant farmworkers. The school has more than 9,000 living alumni.
The Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing Biobehavioral Research Laboratory includes 400 square feet of dedicated space that serves as a resource for use by School of Nursing and affiliated researchers. This laboratory is equipped for processing and analyzing samples and is outfitted with a Beckman-Coulter refrigerated centrifuge, a 4-degree refrigerator, one -20 and three -80 freezers for long-term storage of clinical samples. Additionally, the lab is equipped with a biotech plate reader, ultra-pure water maker, pipettes, blood drawing supplies, processing tubes and other equipment and supplies needed to advance the range of biobehavioral research conducted in the School of Nursing.