Pinnacle Lecture Series

Each semester, the Connell School brings to Boston College an inspiring leader who speaks on an issue at the forefront of health care. Pinnacle lectures are open to all Boston College students, staff, faculty, alumni, and preceptors as well as practitioners and scholars unaffiliated with Boston College. View archived videos of past Pinnacle lectures.

SPRING 2025

AI and Health Informatics: How Nurses Are Shaping the Future of Patient Care

This event took place on Tuesday, March 25,  2025, 5 p.m.

Yawkey Center, Murray Room

Watch a recording of our Spring 2025 Pinnacle Lecture

About the spring 2025 speaker

Nurse scientist Patricia Dykes, Ph.D., M.A., RN, is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the research program director in the Center for Patient Safety, Research and Practice at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Her research aims to improve quality and safety through patient engagement and clinical decision support (CDS). Dykes leads a series of projects to improve outcomes for patients in different care settings including primary care, hospital, and skilled nursing rehab. Her clinical trials test interventions designed to improve fall prevention in primary care and care transitions from hospital to primary care for patients with multiple chronic illness.

Dykes also leads development of CDS and an electronic clinical quality measure to prevent and quantify delayed diagnosis of venous thromboembolism (VTE) for patients who present in primary care with VTE symptoms.

She is the site primary investigator for the CONCERN study, which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning approaches to identify hospitalized patients at risk for deterioration based on nursing documentation patterns. She also leads a clinical trial to test an informatics intervention to improve post-fracture care at care transitions (into skilled nursing rehab and back to primary care) for patients with lower limb fragility fractures.

The author of two books, 190+ peer reviewed publications, Dykes has presented her work nationally and internationally. She is a board member of the National Pressure Injury Prevention Panel, past president/board chair of the American Medical Informatics Association, and an elected fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, American College of Medical Informatics, International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics, and the National Academy of Medicine.

Patricia Dykes is the Dr. Maureen P. McCausland Pinnacle Keynote Speaker for spring 2025.

Continuing Education Contact Hours

This nursing continuing professional development activity is designated for one (1) contact hour provided by Boston College Connell School of Nursing Professional Development and Continuing Education. 

Boston Connell School of Nursing Professional Development and Continuing Education is approved as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by The American Nurses Association Massachusetts, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. 

Past Pinnacle Lecture Speakers

Click on the links below to view past lectures

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