Beverly Malone

Dr. Beverly Malone (born 1948) PhD, RN, FAAN is the chief executive officer of the National League for Nursing. Prior to assuming this position in February 2007, Dr. Malone served as general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, UK, for six years. Dr. Malone sits on numerous advisory boards and committees and is an internationally renowned speaker.

Early life

Malone was the eldest of seven siblings – six girls and one boy. Her mother worked as a tax auditor for the Internal Revenue Serviceand her father was a train engineer. She was raised by her great grandmother in the hill country of Kentucky, before entering nursing.

Career

In her clinical career, Malone has worked as a surgical staff nurse, clinical nurse specialist, director of nursing, and assistant administrator of nursing. Then working as dean and professor of the School of Nursing at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Greensboro, where she served on the Governor's Task Force on the Nursing Shortage, and was a commissioner of the North Carolina Commission on Health Services.

A former psychiatric nurse, she served as president of the American Nurses Association (ANA) (1996-2000) and a year as deputy assistant secretary at the United States Department of Health and Human Services. She also represented U.S. nurses in the Congress of Nurse Representatives of the International Council of Nurses. During her presidency, Malone served on President Bill Clinton's Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry and in March 1998 she was appointed to the Health Care Quality Measurement and Reporting Committee. President Clinton also appointed Malone as a member of the U.S. delegation to the World Health Assembly and she was a participant in the president's round table discussion on the Patients' Bill of Rights. Representing nurses in a partnership to prevent medical errors, Malone served on the board of directors of the National Patient Safety Partnership, a collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the American Medical Association and other national health care organizations. She was the second African-American to serve as president of the ANA. She has been included in "Ebony Magazine"'s list of the 100 most influential African-Americans.

Malone received her BS in Nursing from the University of Cincinnati in Ohio; MS in Adult Psychiatric Nursing from Rutgers, the State University in New Brunswick, New Jersey; and her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Cincinnati. She has received many honors, including Chi Eta Phi's Mabel Keaton Staupers Award; an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from Indiana University in Indianapolis and, in 2005 an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science (DSc) from the University of Ulster; Anthony J. Janetti Award for extraordinary contributions to healthcare; the Distinguished Alumnus Award for outstanding contribution to nursing and society; the Excellence in Nursing Education Award from North Carolina League for Nursing; and the Golden Key National Honor Society's Honorary Member Award, among others.