Winner of an AJN Book of the Year Award of 2020!
“As you will read the stories ahead of the incredible, rock star Rebel Nurses who each have challenged the status quo and chosen the road less traveled, remember that each journey has its own period of self-doubt, fear of failure, and uncertainty of success—but they persevered. We hope that these stories will inspire you to believe in yourself and aim a little higher each day.”
—FROM THE FOREWORD
MOLLY K. MCCARTHY, MBA, BSN, RN-BC
National Director, U.S. Provider Industry and Chief Nursing Officer
Microsoft
U.S. Health and Life Sciences
This compilation of stories from more than 40 diverse nurse leaders, innovators, and entrepreneurs portrays the winding and demanding paths that every nurse has braved in order to improve themselves, their patients’ care, and the healthcare of today. These Rebel Nurses push the boundaries of their profession by demanding a seat at the table of healthcare innovation, lobbying on Capitol Hill, expanding their horizons to fix the broken healthcare systems around the world, and valuing the humanity of the inevitable moments of life’s end.
The inspiring innovation and entrepreneurship of these nurse leaders range from the incorporation of informatics or design communities and the implementation of artificial intelligence, to the creation of New York’s Silicon Valley or nationwide adolescent programs that focus on school shootings—consistently disrupting the status quo through implementing life-changing procedures and policies. Readers will be inspired to transform today’s era of healthcare by improving communities, implementing proactive care, and enhancing the environment of health and healing through research and policy application.
Key FeaturesDevelop a personalized plan for success by using the Motivational Introductions, Rebel Nurse’s Progress Notes, Thought-Provoking Questions, and Online Resources
Helps nurses at all career levels embrace and develop leadership potential to effect change in healthcare
Appendix includes a list of dynamic resources authored by SONSIEL members for further insight and professional development
SONSIEL is recognized as an Associate Member of The Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations (CoNGO) to the United Nations
Author Biography:
Rebecca Love, MSN, BS, RN, FIEL
President, Society of Nurse Scientists, Innovators, Entrepreneurs, and Leaders (SONSIEL)
Rebecca Love is a nurse entrepreneur, inventor, author, Tedx speaker, the first nurse featured on Ted.com, and part of the inaugural nursing panel featured at SXSW 2018. Love was the first Director of Nurse Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the United States at Northeastern School of Nursing—a founding initiative designed to empower nurses as innovators and entrepreneurs. There she founded the Nurse Hackathon; the movement has led to transformational change in the nursing profession.
Rebecca is an experienced nurse entrepreneur, founding HireNurses.com in 2013 (acquired in 2018), and currently serves as the President of SONSIEL. In early 2019, Rebecca, along with a group of leading nurses in the world, founded SONSIEL: The Society of Nurse Scientists, Innovators, Entrepreneurs, and Leaders. Love is passionate about empowering nurses and creating communities to help nurses innovate, create, and collaborate to start businesses and inventions to transform healthcare.
Rebecca holds an MS in Nursing from Northeastern University and a BA in International Relations/Spanish from Boston University; she is currently a faculty member at Norwich University and sits on the board of NextGen Ventures and the Host Committee for the Massachusetts American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). She currently lives in Marblehead, Massachusetts, with her husband and three children.
Nancy Hanrahan, PhD, RN, FAAN
Nancy Hanrahan is an experienced professor and leader with a joy for creating opportunities for nurses and spreading the often-unknown value of nurses for safe, healing healthcare environments. Her skills include the following areas: education development, behavioral health, research of mental health services, healthcare innovation and entrepreneurship, public health, public speaking, and transformational leadership. Her PhD focused on mental health service research from Boston College and her postdoctoral study was at the University of Pennsylvania at the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research. Dr. Hanrahan leads the Nurse Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute at University of Massachusetts at Boston. This program empowers nurses to lead research and innovation that transform health systems using big data, to redesign the healthcare experience of patients and families, and to engage patients in meaningful health behavior change. Her work has been widely published and has received national and international awards for development of innovative interventions. She is cofounder of the Society of Nurse Scientists, Innovators, Entrepreneurs, and Leaders (www.sonsiel.com) and principal/cofounder of Nurse Approved, LLC (www.nurseapproved.health).
Mary Lou Ackerman, MBA, BScN
Vice President, Innovation and Digital Health
Mary Lou Ackerman is vice president of Innovation and Digital Health with SE Health. Ms. Ackerman is a founding member of the Society of Nurse Scientists, Innovators, Entrepreneurs, and Leaders (SONSIEL) and an active member of Canada’s Health Informatics Executive Forum (CHIEF) with Digital Health Canada. Her background is extensive—she has led the development and implementation of many business transformation projects, innovations, and partnerships. She joined Saint Elizabeth in 1987 as a visiting nurse, and she has augmented her clinical background with a graduate business degree and significant experience with health informatics, innovation, and digital health. Ms. Ackerman has a passion for community healthcare, combined with a desire to advance care, creating innovative service models supported by digital health technologies, to create a future that will provide a personalized, accessible, meaningful health experience for individuals, their families, and the service providers who support them.
Amy Rose Taylor, AGNP-BC, BSN, RN
Clinical Services Manager and Podcast Host, UnitedHealth Group Pennsylvania
Amy Rose Taylor earned a degree in English from the University of Hawaii–Manoa and her nursing degrees from Columbia University. While at Columbia, she was selected as a Jonas Scholar, a Columbia Nurse Leader, and a Columbia-Macy Interprofessional Scholar, and was the research assistant to Dean Emeritus Mary O. Mundinger. She was selected as the Health Policy Fellow for the American Association of Nurse Practitioners in Washington, DC. Recently, she was honored as an inaugural Leadership Academy Member for the Geriatric Advanced Practice Nurse Association and is proud to be a founding member of SONSIEL. She currently works as a clinical services manager for UnitedHealth Group and is the host of Clinician Commons Live Podcast, the official podcast for UnitedHealth Group. She enjoys podcasting, as it reminds her of her youth as an international journalist, having interviewed guests as varied as Michael Jackson to Nancy Reagan. She currently lives in New York with her five children and her supportive husband, Joe.
Elizabeth Toner, MJ, MSN, RN
Beth Toner is senior communications officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She has more than 28 years of experience in marketing and corporate communications; she is also a registered nurse with clinical experience in long-term care and community health settings.
Toner joined the Foundation in 2012 from The Hartford, where she was director of marketing initiatives for the Advanced Markets Group. Prior to her work with The Hartford, Toner was a senior web content developer for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She has also served as a multimedia communications specialist for the University of Pennsylvania Health System and a public relations coordinator for Harleysville Insurance.
Toner holds an associate of applied science in nursing degree from Delaware County Community College, a bachelor’s degree in communications from Messiah College, a master of journalism degree from Temple University, and a master of science in nursing from Eastern Mennonite University.
Faith Ann Lawlor, RN
Operations, Society of Nurse Scientists, Innovators, Entrepreneurs, and Leaders (SONSIEL)
Ms. Lawlor executes events, oversees membership services, and implements technology, financial, and marketing solutions for SONSIEL. Faith is an experienced leader, with an analytical and strategic mind, and proven track record in delivering results in a high-stakes environment. Ms. Lawlor has extensive knowledge in business, nursing, and healthcare.
