Desiree Díaz, PhD, ANEF, FSSH, FAAN, will join the Vanderbilt School of Nursing as assistant dean for the Master of Nursing program, effective August 25.
Díaz will provide leadership and vision for the school’s prelicensure program. She will oversee program and curriculum development, implementation, administration and evaluation. She will also mentor and supervise MN faculty, support student progress and success, and provide strategic planning.
“I am excited to join a revolutionary team that will shape human health and advance nursing education while supporting student success,” Díaz said. “It is a wonderful environment to be joining.”
Díaz comes to VUSN from the University of Central Florida, where she is professor and ENFERMERÍA Faculty Excellence Scholar. She also serves as director of the Hispanic Serving Healthcare Professionals Certificate Program and as undergraduate simulation coordinator. She previously served as associate clinical professor and director of the Simulation and Clinical Resource Lab at the University of Connecticut. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, Academy of Nursing Education and in the Society for Simulation in Healthcare.
“Dr. Díaz has devoted her career to improving health care and nursing education,” said Dean Pamela R. Jeffries, PhD, FAAN, ANEF, FSSH, the Valere Potter Distinguished Professor of Nursing. “She has extensive experience in teaching at the prelicensure and master’s level, which will help the School of Nursing continue to excel in educating the next generation of compassionate and skilled health care leaders.”
Díaz’s research focuses on training health care providers to more effectively care for vulnerable and underserved patient populations, including , including non-English Language preference patients. She is a certified nurse educator and one of the first 28 advanced simulation-certified faculty worldwide.
“We are excited to welcome Dr. Díaz to VUSN,” said incoming Senior Associate Dean for Academics Kristina Thomas Dreifuerst, PhD, ANEF, FAAN. “Her expertise in nursing education curriculum and assessment, and her vast experiences in simulation will be invaluable to the prelicensure MN program and the entire School of Nursing.”
Díaz received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from University of Connecticut, Master of Science in Education from St. Joseph’s College of Maine, and Master of Science in Nursing and PhD from University of Connecticut. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University and a family nurse practitioner certification from the University of Central Florida.
Vanderbilt’s accelerated prelicensure MN program is for individuals with earned bachelor’s degrees in fields other than nursing who wish to enter the discipline as registered nurses. Students earn a master’s degree and graduate prepared to take the NCLEX-RN exam. They then can enter the workforce or continue in VUSN’s MN Prespecialty track to earn a Post Master’s Certificate for advanced practice nursing or a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree for the four-semester-long, full-time program are held in person at Vanderbilt School of Nursing.