May 18, 2007

New director of Munn Center named

In a historic appointment, Dorothy Jones, RN, EdD, FAAN (left), has been named the first director of the Yvonne L. Munn Center for Nursing Research at the MGH.

Jones joined the MGH in 1988 as a clinical nurse specialist consultant with the Department of Quality Assurance, Research and Staff Development and has served the Department of Nursing as a senior nurse scientist since 2000. In October 2006, she assumed an active role in leading the Munn Center through a transitional period, identifying the infrastructure and resources required to support nursing research at the MGH.

"Dr. Jones has been seeding nursing research at the MGH for nearly 20 years through
open dialogue with leadership and staff about their practice," says Jeanette Ives Erikson, RN, MS, senior vice president for Patient Care Services and chief nurse. "More importantly, she has taught them about the art and science of nursing by coaching them in the conduct and utilization of nursing research."

A dedicated educator, Jones is a professor of Adult Health Nursing at the William F. Connell School of Nursing at Boston College, and recently served as a visiting professor at the University of Navarra School of Nursing in Pamplona, Spain. She is the recipient of many professional honors and awards, including two American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Awards, the Distinguished Alumni Award from Indiana University, the Teaching Excellence Award and the first Dorothy A. Jones Award for Knowledge Development and Human Becoming, both from Boston College. Jones also has served as president of the Eastern Nursing Research Society and the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association and is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. She has authored numerous books and articles and is currently a member of the advisory editorial board of the journal Nursing Research.

Among her many research accomplishments, Jones recently completed a National Institutes of Health-National Institute of Nursing Research grant on the "Efficacy of Nurse Coaching to Aid Ambulatory Surgery Patients During Recovery at Home." Her research focuses on language development and classification, instrument and theory development and testing, particularly regarding Margaret Newman's theory of health as expanding consciousness.

Jones earned her nursing degree from Long Island University and holds a master's degree from Indiana University and a doctorate from Boston University.