The World Health Assembly has designated 2020 the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife in celebration of the 200th birthday of Florence Nightingale. This year-long recognition and celebration has taken on increased relevance as nurses and midwives are playing a vital role in the unprecedented public health crisis brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
The pandemic has been particularly devastating for the elderly and minority populations, exposing many of the social, economic, and health disparities facing these individuals.
Dr. May Wykle is one of the nation’s most distinguished nursing leaders and educators, as well as an internationally recognized expert in the fields of geriatric and mental health nursing. In addition to being the first African American dean of the Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), she is the first African American woman in nursing at major research university in the U.S. to have an endowed chair named after her. Throughout her 40-year career at CWRU, she has made it her personal mission to bring more minorities into the nursing profession.
May L. Wykle, Ph.D.
Professor Emerita, Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Case Western Reserve University
Dan Moulthrop
CEO, The City Club of Cleveland
