Susan Alexander, DNP, ANP-BC, has been named the new Nursing Informatics Specialty Director at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing.
Alexander comes to VUSN from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, with more than 15 years of experience in nursing education and research, focusing on using data to drive knowledge discovery.
“I am honored to join the faculty of the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, and to support the student-centered learning offered in the Nursing Informatics Specialty Program,” said Alexander. “I look forward to helping the program expand and grow into new areas of clinical practice and research.”
Alexander succeeds Professor Patricia Sengstack, DNP’10, RN-BC, FAAN, who led the specialty since 2017. Nurse informaticists develop solutions to help groups of patients or organizations, and students learn to identify, collect, process and manage data to support nursing practice, administration, education and research.
“Susan has a proven track record in informatics, and her expertise will be a huge asset to the important work of the informatics department,” said Dean Pamela R. Jeffries, PhD, FAAN, ANEF, FSSH, the Valere Potter Distinguished Professor of Nursing. “Technology is expanding rapidly in health care and nurses are always among the first adopters. Susan and the NI faculty will assure that our students are innovators in data science and informatics, as well as emerging tech like AI and virtual reality.”
The NI curriculum includes theories and fundamentals of informatics practice as well as courses in leadership, quality improvement and design thinking. Faculty use various technology-based learning activities throughout the semester, including online conferencing, video-streamed lectures and online exams.
“The inherent flexibility of nursing informatics creates a wealth of opportunities for nurses to apply their clinical skills and expertise,” said Alexander. “The field offers so many ways for nurses to make significant contributions in improving care of patients and populations.”
Alexander has more than 63 published articles and is the co-author of Applied Clinical Informatics in Nursing, which was named the American Journal of Nursing First Place Book of the Year in 2018. She earned her BSN, MSN, and DNP degrees from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and completed a Post-master’s Certificate as an Adult Health Nurse Practitioner from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.