2014 Excellence in Leadership Award

2014 Excellence in Leadership Award Recipient Brenda K. Zierler, left, stops to chat and take a photo with faculty member Jann Murray-Garcia and student and her family.

The 2014 recipient of the Excellence in Leadership Award from the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis is Brenda K. Zierler, professor of biobehavioral nursing and health systems at the University of Washington School of Nursing. Dr. Zierler is nationally recognized for her work examining education systems for health professionals.

Dr. Zierler’s research explores the relationships between the delivery of health care and outcomes—at both the patient and system levels. Her primary appointment is in the School of Nursing at the University of Washington, but she also serves in three adjunct appointments at UW — two in the School of Medicine and one in the School of Public Health. Currently, Dr. Zierler is a co-primary investigator on a Josiah-Macy-funded grant with physician Leslie Hall to develop a national train-the-trainer faculty development program for interprofessional education and collaborative practice. She also leads two HRSA training grants — one focusing on technology -enhanced interprofessional education for advanced-practice students and the second focused on interprofessional collaborative practice for advanced heart failure patients at UW’s Regional Heart Center. 

Dr. Zierler is the Co-Director for the UW Center for Health Sciences Interprofessional Education, Practice and Research as well as Director of Faculty Development for the UW Institute for Simulation and Interprofessional Studies in the School of Medicine.  She is a board member and chairwoman of the American Interprofessional Health Collaborative and a member of the Institute of Medicine’s Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professions Education.