Top 100 Leaders

Peter Buerhaus

Distinguished Faculty and Valere Potter Distinguished Professor of Nursing

Recognized for his nationally renowned work in research, especially as it relates to reshaping public policy regarding the nursing shortage. He is Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Health Workforce Studies in the Institute for Medicine and Public Health at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and previously served as the Senior Associate Dean for Research at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. He was assistant professor of health policy and management at Harvard School of Public Health where he developed the Harvard Nursing Research Institute and its post-doctoral program in nursing health services research. During the 1980s, he served as assistant to the chief executive officer of The University of Michigan Medical Center’s seven teaching hospitals and assistant to the Vice Provost for Medical Affairs, the chief executive of the medical center. He maintains an active research program involving studies on the economics of the nursing workforce, health workforce forecasting, measures of quality of care, and public and provider opinions on issues involving the delivery of health care. He has published more than 70 peer-reviewed articles and recently co-authored the 2008 book The Future of the Nursing Workforce in the United States: Data, Trends, and Implications. He has earned numerous awards and appointments and is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science.