Jean Watson
Founder and Executive Director – Watson Caring Science Institute
Jean Watson, RN, PhD, FAAN, is Distinguished Professor and Dean Emerita, University of Colorado Denver, College of Nursing Anschutz Medical Center campus, where she held the nation’s first endowed Chair in Caring Science for 16 years. She is founder of the original Center for Human Caring in Colorado and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing; past President of the National League for Nursing; founding member of International Association in Human Caring and International Caritas Consortium. She is Founder and Director of non-profit foundation, Watson Caring Science Institute.
Dr. Watson has earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in nursing and psychiatric/mental health nursing and holds her PhD in educational psychology and counseling. She is a widely published author and recipient of many awards and honors, including: The Fetzer Institute Norman Cousins Award, in recognition of her commitment to developing, maintaining and exemplifying relationship-centered care practices; an international Kellogg Fellowship in Australia; a Fulbright Research Award in Sweden; the Hildebrand Center for Compassion in Medicine Award – Notre Dame University; Academy Integrative Medicine and Healing Award for pioneering work in Caring Science; and the Japanese International Society of Caring and Peace Chair. She holds 15 Honorary Doctoral Degrees, including 12 internationally (Sweden; United Kingdom (2); Spain; British Columbia and Quebec, Canada; Japan; Turkey; Peru (3); and Colombia).
Clinical nurses and academic programs throughout the world use her published works on the philosophy and theory of human caring and the art and science of caring in nursing. Dr. Watson’s caring philosophy is used to guide transformative models of caring and healing practices for hospitals, nurses and patients alike, in diverse settings worldwide.
At the University of Colorado, Dr. Watson held the title of Distinguished Professor of Nursing; the highest honor accorded its faculty for scholarly work. In 1999 she assumed the Murchinson-Scoville Chair in Caring Science, the nation’s first endowed chair in Caring Science, based at the University of Colorado Denver & Anschutz Medical Center.
As author/co-author of over 30 books on caring, her latest books range from empirical measurements and international research on caring to new postmodern philosophies of caring and healing, philosophy and science of caring and caring science as sacred science, and global advance in Caring Literacy. Her books have received the American Journal of Nursing’s “Book of the Year” award and seek to bridge paradigms as well as point toward transformative models for this 21st century. In October, 2013 Dr. Watson was inducted as a Living Legend by the American Academy of Nursing, its highest honor.
Peggy Chinn
Editor-in-Chief – Advances in Nursing Science
Peggy L. Chinn, RN, PhD, FAAN, is Professor Emerita of Nursing at the University of Connecticut. Her BS in nursing is from the University of Hawaii, and Master’s and PhD degrees are from the University of Utah. Peggy is the Editor-in-Chief of Advances in Nursing Science and she speaks and authors books and journal articles on nursing theory, feminism and nursing, the art of nursing, nursing education, and LGBTQ health. She is co-founder and web manager for Lavender “`Health and several local community groups. Peggy blogs regularly on her own blog, the Peace & Power blog, as well as on blogs for Advances in Nursing Science, the Nurse Manifest Project, and, most recently, Nursology.Net. She currently teaches doctoral level courses using hybrid methods (online and face-to-face) for the University of Connecticut, Florida Atlantic University, and Louisiana State University.
Janet Quinn
International Speaker and Consultant
Janet F. Quinn, RN, PhD, FAAN, is an international speaker, consultant, and retreat and workshop facilitator in several content areas, including: Holistic and Integrative Medicine and Nursing; the Art and Science of Human Caring; Caring and Healing; The Way of the Healer; Creating Habitats for Healing; and Spirituality and Healing. She is one of the earliest pioneers in Therapeutic Touch practice and research and in Holistic Nursing and has taught both all over the world. Janet is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Nurses, was American Holistic Nurses Association Holistic Nurse of the Year in 1990, and Healer of the Year, Therapeutic Touch International Association, in 1995.
Currently, Janet is the Director of HaelanWorks in Lyons, Colorado; Faculty Associate in the Watson Caring Science Institute; and adjunct faculty at the University of Arizona and University of Colorado Colleges of Nursing. She is also a trained Spiritual Director and Spiritual Coach in private practice, where she brings an InterSpiritual perspective to companion people from all faith traditions or none on the spiritual journey.
You can read more about her at www.JanetQuinn.com.
Lisa Bourque Bearskin
Past President – Canadian Indigenous Nurses Association
Lisa Bourque Bearskin, RN, PhD, a member of Beaver Lake Cree Nation in Treaty 6 Territory, is an Associate Professor and New Researcher in the School of Nursing at the Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, British Columbia. Dr. Bourque Bearskin is affiliated with the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing, the International Public Health Association, and the Canadian Indigenous Nurses Association, of which she was past-president from 2013-2017 contributing to advancing Indigenous-nursing leadership.
After working as a Registered Nurse in community health, she began her teaching career working with Maskwacis Community College in Alberta and the Arctic Nursing program in Iqaluit, Nunavut and the University of Alberta, Faculty of Nursing where she developed and delivered Indigenous-nursing initiatives.
Dr. Bourque Bearskin was awarded her PhD in Nursing in 2014. In 2017, she received the Canadian Nurses Association Award for the Top 150 Nurses and a Research Mentor Award from TRU in 2019. She is working on a number of projects funded by the Canadian Institute of Health Research-Institute of Indigenous Peoples Health. Her research focus is on Indigenous wellness and addressing Indigenous health inequities by supporting Indigenous research led by Indigenous Communities. She is working with nurses and various communities to enhance understandings of Indigenous nursing knowledge and social determinants of health, which maintains cultural integrity of nurses practice and supports Indigenous clients’ security and sovereignty.
Marcia Hills
Founder and President – Global Alliance for Human Caring Education
Marcia Hills, RN, PhD, FAAN, is a Professor at the School of Nursing, Faculty of Human and Social Development, University of Victoria, British Columbia (BC), Canada. She was: the founding Director of the BC Collaborative Nursing Program; founding Director of the Centre for Community Health Promotion Research (2002-2009) at the University of Victoria; Co-Chair (2002-04) and then president (2004-08) of the Canadian Consortium for Health Promotion Research (CCHPR) and Co-Chair of its Education and Training subcommittee; President of the Canadian Association of Teachers for Community Health (CATCH); a globally elected member of the Board of Trustees for the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) (2001-2013) and VP for Research and Technical Development (2010-2013) and Co-Chair of the Health Promotion Effectiveness Project (2005-2009) of its North American Region; and Faculty Associate at the Watson Caring Science Institute and, as the inaugural Chair of its Faculty Executive and Faculty Council (2010- 2014), the Academic Lead of its WCSI Doctoral Program. Marcia is the Founder and current President of the Global Alliance for Human Caring Education.
Marcia co-authored, with Jean Watson (2011), Creating a Caring Curriculum: An Emancipatory Pedagogy for Nursing and currently is working on its second edition (2019). She is also a co-author, with Chantal Cara and Jean Watson, of A Caring Science Educators’ Guide for Teaching: Grounded in Caring, Healing and Love.
As a Visiting Scholar and a WHO Fellow, Marcia worked and studied in Australia and England and at the National School of Public Health in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Marcia has consulted extensively in: the USA, the UK, New Zealand, Australia, Kenya, Brazil, Chile, and Canada in the areas of: health promotion, primary health care, emancipatory caring curriculum development, women’s health, curriculum development, and participatory action research and evaluation.