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.
FALL 2023
From Pandemic Preparedness to Climate Change Resiliency, the Solutions Lie with Our Health Care Professionals
Wednesday, November 1, 2023, 5 p.m.
Yawkey Center, Murray Room
Vanessa Kerry
MD, M.Sc.
Director, Program in Global Public Policy and Social Change, Harvard Medical School
CEO, Seed Global Health
Director-General Special Envoy, Climate Change and Health, World Health Organization
Watch a recording of our fall 2023 Pinnacle Lecture
About the speaker
Vanessa Kerry, MD, M.Sc., is co-founder and CEO of Seed Global Health, a non-profit organization focused on health systems strengthening and transformation through long-term investments and training of the health workforce. She is also a critical care physician at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) who serves as the associate director of partnerships and global initiatives at the MGH Center for Global Health. She directs the Global Public Policy and Social Change program at Harvard Medical School where she has focused on links between security and health. In June 2023, Kerry was appointed World Health Organization Special Envoy for Climate Change and Health.
Continuing Education Contact Hours
This nursing continuing professional development activity is designated for 1.0 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.
Jennie Chin Hansen
Past CEO, American Geriatrics Society; Former President, AARP
Spring 2023
Angelleen Peters-Lewis
Chief Operating Officer and Chief Nurse Executive, Barnes-Jewish Hospital
Fall 2022
Rear Admiral Aisha K. Mix
Chief Nurse Officer, U. S. Public Health Service
Spring 2022
Katherine E. Gregory
Dean, Connell School of Nursing, Boston College
Fall 2021
Susan Gennaro
Dean, Connell School of Nursing, Boston College
Spring 2021
Patricia Davidson
Dean, School of Nursing, Johns Hopkins University
Fall 2020
Gennaro Rocco
Director, Steering Committee, Scientific Research Center Centro di Eccellenza per la Cultura e la Ricerca Infermieristica
Alessandro Stievano
Research Fellow in Nursing, Centre of Excellence for Nursing Scholarship OPI, Rome
Fall 2019
Sheila Davis
Chief of Clinical Operations and Chief Nursing Officer, Partners in Health
Spring 2019
Lorna Finnegan
President, National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties
Executive Associate Dean, University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing
Fall 2018
Susan Orsega
Chief Nurse Officer, United States Public Health Service
Spring 2018
Marla Weston
Chief Executive Officer, American Nurses Association Enterprise
Fall 2017
Patricia Flatley Brennan
Director, National Library of Medicine
Spring 2017
Loretta Sweet Jemmott
Vice President for Health and Health Equity and
Professor, College of Nursing and Health Professions,
Drexel University
Fall 2016
Kathleen Rice Simpson
Perinatal Clinical Nurse Specialist
Editor in Chief, MCN: The American Journal of Maternal Child Nursing
Spring 2016
Margaret Grey
Annie W. Goodrich Professor, Yale School of Nursing
Fall 2015
Antonia M. Villarruel
Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
Spring 2015
Maureen E. Gormley ’85
Chief Operating Officer, National Institutes of Health Clinical Center
Fall 2014
Courtney H. Lyder
Dean and Professor, UCLA School of Nursing
Assistant Director, UCLA Health System
Executive Director, UCLA Health System Patient Safety Institute
Spring 2014
Maureen P. McCausland ’72, M.S. ’77
Senior Vice President and System Chief Nursing Officer, MedStar Health
Fall 2013
Lee Woodruff
Best-selling author, CBS This Morning show contributor
Co-founder, Bob Woodruff Foundation
Spring 2013
Angela Barron McBride
Distinguished Professor and University Dean Emerita, Indiana University School of Nursing
Fall 2012
Karen Daley, M.S. ’04, Ph.D. ’10
President, American Nurses Association
Spring 2012
Karen H. Morin
President of the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International
Fall 2011
Linda Burnes Bolton
Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Spring 2011
Terry Fulmer, M.S. ’77, Ph.D. ’83
Dean, New York University College of Nursing
Fall 2010