Dr. Deborah Trautman ’80, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN, President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Association of Nursing and one of Wesleyan’s most distinguished graduates, will be honored with the Alumni Achievement Award on October 5. The official recognition will occur during the College’s annual Founders Day Convocation.

Dr. Trautman assumed the role of President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) in June 2014. Formerly the Executive Director of the Center for Health Policy and Healthcare Transformation at Johns Hopkins Hospital, she has held clinical and administrative leadership positions at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.

She also served as the Vice President of Patient Care Services for Howard County General Hospital and the Director of Nursing for Emergency Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr. Trautman also held a joint appointment at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing.

Since her appointment at AACN, Dr. Trautman is a member of the Secretary of U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Special Medical Advisory Group (SMAG). In addition, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) named her program director of the New Careers in Nursing project, and her colleagues with the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) elected her to serve as the group’s Treasurer/Secretary in 2015.

She also serves on the National Academies of Science, Global Forum, Envisioning the Future of Health Professional Education. She has served as an advisory member and past chair for Academy Health’s Interdisciplinary Research Interest Group on Nursing Issues. She is also a 2007/2008 Robert Johnson Health Policy Fellow who worked for the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, then Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Dr. Trautman received a BSN from Wesleyan, an MSN from the University of Pittsburgh, and a Ph.D. in Health Policy from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

The Alumni Achievement Award is selected and awarded each year by Wesleyan’s Alumni Council.