Health Administration and Policy Alumni Named Dean of Nursing at MGH Institute

Kenneth R. White, PhD, APRN, FACHE, FAAN, MPH, a 1980 graduate of the Department of Health Administration and Policy, was recently named Dean of Nursing at MGH Institute of Health Professions. Dr. White, who recently completed service as the Associate Dean for Strategic Partnerships in the School of Nursing and Endowed Professor of Nursing at the University of Virginia and where he continues in that affiliation as an emeritus professor, will begin his new role at the MGH Institute on July 1, 2021.

“Dr. White brings a wealth of academic, health care, and administrative experience to the role,” Alex F. Johnson, PhD, CCC-SLP, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at the MGH Institute, said. “We look forward to having him join us in leading our School of Nursing in its next chapter.”

While at UVA, Dr. White also held joint appointments at the Darden School of Business, the McIntire School of Commerce, and the School of Medicine. He also maintained a clinical practice as a palliative care nurse practitioner at UVA Medical Center. Earlier in his career, he was an executive with the Mercy Health System, an international provider of health care, where he led the civilian hospital on Guam and served in various administrative roles with Mercy Health Center in Oklahoma City.

From 1993-2013, Dr. White was a professor and directed the graduate programs in health administration at Virginia Commonwealth University. He also held the inaugural Sentara Professorship in Health Administration until his transition to UVA in 2013. He has completed visiting professorships at the Luiss Business School in Rome and at the Swiss School of Public Health. He also has completed consultancies in the Republic of Kazakhstan, Guam, Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau.

Dr. White’s scholarly work is extensive. He has published many refereed articles as well as chapters and texts on several areas important to the practice of nursing including: intensive, hospice and palliative care; nursing innovation and entrepreneurship; the evolution of Catholic health systems; access to health care for vulnerable populations; and many areas of hospital leadership and management. He is widely known for his award-winning text, The Well-Managed Healthcare Organization, published by Health Administration Press which now is in its 9th edition. In 2019, he received the American College of Healthcare Executives Gold Medal Award, its highest award for lifetime contributions to health and health care leadership.

He received his BSN, MSN, and PhD degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University. He also holds a Master of Public Health degree in health administration from the University of Oklahoma Hudson College of Public Health and a Post-MS Certificate as an Adult/Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner. In his work as a certified nurse practitioner, he also holds specialty certification in hospice and palliative care.

Dr. White was inducted as a Fellow in both the American Academy of Nursing and the American College of Healthcare Executives. Later this year, he will begin a two-year term as the President of the American Academy of Nursing, an organization with which he has been actively involved for years. He also is a member of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration.