Research/Academic Interests

Stephen J. Cavanagh, Ph.D., M.P.A., R.N., F.A.C.H.E., F.A.A.N., is the dean of the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis. He oversees a top-ranked nursing school with more than 400 alumni and 40 faculty, that opened just nine years ago with a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

The interprofessional school offers five graduate degree programs to more than 320 students including master’s-degree programs for physician assistants, entry-level nursing, leadership and family nurse practitioners, as well as a doctoral degree.

With a passion for health care workforce development and maximizing the use of advanced practice nurses, Cavanagh’s research explores the understanding of innovation within the almost unique regulatory framework in which nursing operates — and the need for it within nursing education due to projected nurse shortages —a growing elderly population and the rise of technology in health care.

He has also generated more than $16 million in external federal, state and foundation funding to develop nursing practice arrangements, support diversity in health care and increase the nursing workforce.

Prior to joining the School of Nursing in 2019, he was dean and professor at the College of Nursing, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He launched his academic nursing career in the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS) where he was professor and CEO of the Birmingham and Solihull College of Nursing. There, he led large-scale reform by moving nursing education from the NHS into the university sector in the United Kingdom.

Center/Program Affiliation

Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing