The Cardiovascular Nursing Council submitted a proposal for the Board’s consideration to re-name the Cardiovascular Nursing Lecture in honour of Prof Patricia Davidson and it was unanimously approved at the Board meeting on 3 November 2023.
The Cardiovascular Nursing named lecture, presented prior to the Cardiovascular Nursing Prize session at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Cardiovascular Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ), will now be named the Patricia M. Davidson Lecture, in recognition of Professor Davidson’s considerable contribution to the nursing profession in Australia, internationally and to CSANZ.
Throughout her career, Professor Davidson has been focussed on mentoring the next generation of health professionals and scientists. In 2016, she was the first nurse to receive the Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Outstanding Mentor of Young Researchers. Prof Davidson has received funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Health & Medical Research Council, and the Australian Research Council. She has received multiple awards in recognition of her contributions to cardiovascular care and nursing. In 2021 she was the recipient of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH) Distinguished Leader Award and the 2021 Advance Awards winner in the Education and Research category.
Prof Patricia Davidson was appointed Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Wollongong in May 2021. Prior to this current role, she was the dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing in Baltimore, USA and a professor in the Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her career has focused on improving the outcomes of individuals with chronic illness and developing policy relevant health interventions. As a global leader in nursing, health care, and advocacy, Prof Davidson’s work focuses on person-centred care delivery and the improvement of cardiovascular health outcomes for women and at risk populations.
Prof Davidson has been instrumental to developing the leading cardiovascular nurse researchers in Australia to improve cardiovascular health of their communities. She is committed to mentoring the next generation of research leaders across many disciplines.
Through her research career, she has supervised more than 56 doctoral students. She has over 700 publications, a large number are published with students, mentees, clinical collaborators and fellow nurse scientists, many of whom are former students or mentees.