UofL professor selected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing

UofL School of Nursing Assistant Professor and Gerontology Nurse Practitioner Professor Candace Harrington, PhD, DNP, APRN, AGPCNP-BC, CNE, has been selected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. Induction into the academy is a significant milestone in a nurse leader’s career in which their accomplishments are honored by their colleagues within and outside the profession. Fellows are selected based on their contributions and impact to advance the public’s health.  

“I am humbled and honored to be named as a Fellow inductee of the American Academy of Nursing. I consider myself a change agent and enjoy challenges promoting innovative effectual change. I will eagerly lend my experience, passion and time to the Aging Expert Panel to develop policy recommendations that eradicate age-related health disparities, systemic racism, and ageism contributing to poor health equity,” Harrington said. 

The academy is an honorific society that recognizes nursing's most accomplished leaders in policy, research, practice, administration and academia. Academy Fellows, from nearly 40 countries, hold a wide variety of influential roles in health care. Induction into the Fellowship represents more than recognition of one's accomplishments within the nursing profession. Fellows contribute their collective expertise to the academy, engaging with health leaders nationally and globally to improve health and achieve health equity by impacting policy through nursing leadership, innovation, and science.   

“Dr. Harrington was recruited to the university because of her expertise in the care of older adults. Recognition with the awarding of fellowship in the academy is one of the highest honors a nurse can receive. It signifies the level of esteem to which she is held by her peers,” said Mary DeLetter, interim dean of the School of Nursing. 

Harrington has 37 years of experience as a nurse leader and has had regional, national and international impact on nursing practice, interprofessional health science and intraprofessional nursing education, and knowledge-generating research. She earned a diploma in nursing in 1982 from Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing in Charlotte, North Carolina, a BSN from Gardner Webb University in 2002, an MSN with an adult gerontology nurse practitioner concentration from the University of North Carolina Greensboro in 2005, and a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from Vanderbilt University in 2011. Harrington earned a PhD in Nursing in 2018 from East Carolina University and completed a Post-Master's Certificate in Nursing Education at the same institution in 2019. 

Through a competitive, rigorous application process, the academy’s Fellow Selection Committee reviewed a record number of applications, representing a 30% increase from the previous year, to select the 2022 Fellows. Harrington was one of 250 individuals selected to be inducted. The 2022 Fellows represent 35 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and 17 countries.  

The 2022 inductees will be recognized for their significant contributions to health and health care at the academy’s annual Health Policy Conference, taking place on October 27-29, 2022 in Washington, DC at the Marriott Marquis during the Induction Ceremony on the evening of October 29. Once the newest Fellows are inducted, the academy will be comprised of more than 3,000 leaders who are experts in policy, research, administration, practice, and academia that champion health and wellness, locally and globally.