Pamela Cipriano, dean of the University of Virginia School of Nursing and professor of nursing and public policy at the Batten School, was elected to lead the International Council of Nurses at the group’s Council of National Nursing Association Representatives.

A two-term president of the American Nurses Association from 2014 to 2018 and the ICN’s first vice president since 2017, Cipriano has been a champion of the nursing profession across her more than 40-year career.

“Pam Cipriano is a passionate advocate for the profession of nursing,” UVA President Jim Ryan said, “and I have no doubt that she will be an outstanding leader of the International Council of Nurses. This is a fitting honor for Pam, who is a nationally recognized leader and has made innumerable contributions to the field throughout her career.”

The ICN is a federation of more than 130 national nurses’ associations that represent millions of nurses working worldwide. Operated and led by an international cohort of nurses, the council works to ensure quality care for all and advocate for sound health policies globally. Cipriano succeeds Annette Kennedy and will be the ICN’s 29th president when she begins her four-year term on Nov. 4.

“We must be the voice that broadcasts the impact of nurses penetrating the barriers of universal health coverage,” Cipriano said, “reducing the burden of non-communicable diseases, promoting healthy behaviors and mitigating the detrimental impacts of climate change.”

Acknowledging the worldwide crisis that the global pandemic has created, Cipriano added that “our immediate future requires that we first address the impact of international workforce and economic disruptions, ensuring the stability of ICN and assisting our members to do the same.”

Cipriano is known nationally and internationally as a fierce advocate for quality, growing nursing’s influence on health care policy and leading efforts to advance the role and visibility of nurses. She served as a public-sector adviser in the U.S. delegation to the 69th World Health Assembly in 2016, has been a leader in the National Academy of Medicine’s Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience, and was instrumental in advancing strategies to reduce regulatory burden and revamp electronic documentation to relieve clinicians of unnecessary work. Across her career, she’s focused on improving the safety and efficiency of care by ensuring a healthy, safe and supportive work environment and encouraging individual healthy behaviors to promote well-being.

“Throughout her career, Pam Cipriano has been such a strong advocate for growing nursing’s influence on health care policy and leading efforts to advance the role and visibility of nurses,” said Dr. K. Craig Kent, the chief executive officer of UVA Health and UVA’s executive vice president for health affairs. “I know she will bring that same focus, passion and leadership to the International Council of Nurses as president.”

Recently, Cipriano worked on mitigating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of all clinicians by addressing the psychological safety and support for caregivers as well as reducing the stigma of seeking mental health care as primary prevention for burnout syndrome and depression. She serves on the board of the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation.

An adviser to Times Up Health Care, which aims to eliminate sexual harassment and gender inequality in health care, Cipriano was ranked No. 2 on Healthcare Global’s list of the Top 10 women in health care for 2021, and has been repeatedly ranked among the “100 Most Influential People in (U.S.) Healthcare” by Modern Healthcare magazine. Cipriano also served for eight years as the inaugural editor of American Nurse Today, the official journal of the American Nurses Association.