Katie Boston-Leary, PhD, MBA, MHA, RN, NEA-BC
Director of Nursing Programs
American Nurses Association
Katie Boston-Leary is the Director of Nursing Programs at the American Nurses Association overseeing the Nursing Practice and Work Environment Division and Healthy Nurse Healthy Nation. She is also the Co-Lead for Project Firstline, a multi-million-dollar grant collaborative with the CDC for training on Infection Prevention and Control. Katie is also the co-chair for the DEI committee for the Healthcare Leaders Network Delaware Valley, an ACHE affiliate. She helped redesign the Nurse Leadership Institute at the University of Maryland with an embedded coaching program. Katie is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing and the School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University. She is a board member on St. Johns University Health Programs and an editorial advisory board member with Web/MD Medscape and ACHE. Katie serves as staff on the National Commission to Address Racism in Nursing and is also part of the National Academy of Science and Medicine’s National Plan to Address Clinician Well-Being supported by the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy. Katie also leads as an ANA representative with 4 partner organizations to organize a National Nurse Staffing Think Tank and Task Force, which published short term actionable recommendations to address the nurse staffing crisis.
She was identified August 2019 Health Leaders Journal as “One of Five Chief Nursing Officers Changing Healthcare”. Her most recent research was a qualitative study on nurses’ perceptions of power dynamics in the hospital setting. She is a well-known speaker nationally and internationally with many publications and podcast guest invitations. She completed her PhD at Walden University in Health Services, obtained a dual degree MBA and MHA from the University of Maryland Global Campus and her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Bowie State University in Maryland. She is a board-certified Nurse Executive and obtained a nurse executive leadership certificate from Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. She has been interviewed for stories in numerous print, online and televised media outlets namely CNBC, NY Times, Cheddar TV, HR Maximizer, Axios, Beckers and Bloomberg News. She has written and co-authored numerous articles on staffing, diversity and leadership and was recently featured on NBC’s Today Show to discuss the nurse staffing crisis that is impacting health care delivery.