NOTE: Lecture is at 3 p.m. today. Some information had an incorrect start time.
Rear Admiral Sylvia Trent-Adams, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN, the deputy surgeon general of the United States, will deliver the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing’s (VUSN) inaugural Dean’s Diversity Lecture on Monday, Jan. 9 at 3 p.m. in Nursing Annex room 155. The free lecture, “Health Policy Priorities for Nursing: Past, Present, and Future,” is open to the Vanderbilt community, but space is limited.
“Rear Admiral Trent-Adams is one of the highest ranking nurses in federal government. She has spent more than two decades working to improve access to care for underserved communities,” said Linda Norman, DSN, R.N., FAAN, the Valere Potter Menefee Professor of Nursing and VUSN dean. “Her work with the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program impacted the lives of many Americans. I look forward to hearing her insights regarding government, today’s health care environment and efforts into improving public health.”
As deputy surgeon general, Trent-Adams works with U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy, M.D., MBA, regarding ways to communicate the best available scientific information to the public and overseeing the operations of the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Commissioned Corps. Before being appointed deputy surgeon general, Trent-Adams was the chief nurse officer for USPHS, a group of more than 6,700 uniformed public health officers working in federal government. She directed the Commissioned Corps’ nursing affairs and advised the Office of the Surgeon General and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services regarding nurse professionals.
Trent-Adams also has served as the deputy associate administrator for the HIV/AIDS Bureau in the Health Resources and Services Administration, where she helped manage the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009.
Prior to joining USPHS, she was a nurse-officer in the Army and a research nurse at the University of Maryland. Trent-Adams also completed two internships in the U.S. Senate, focusing on the prospective payment system for skilled nursing facilities and scope of practice for nurses and psychologists. She has served as the chair of the Federal Public Health Nurse Leadership Council and the Federal Nursing Service Council. Her clinical practice was in trauma, oncology, community health and infectious disease. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Master of Science in Nursing and Health Policy and Ph.D. in public policy.
This is the first in a series of Dean’s Diversity Lectures hosted by VUSN. The second lecture will be Thursday, May 11 and delivered by Nilda (Nena) P. Peragallo Montano, DrPH, R.N., FAAN, incoming dean of the School of Nursing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The new VUSN Dean’s Diversity Lecture Series explores the diversity of backgrounds, cultures, ideas and viewpoints in our world today. It seeks to equip students, faculty, staff and other community members with the knowledge and understanding needed to lead nursing forward in a global society.