Greta G. Cummings, RN, PhD, FCAHS, FAAN, is the current Dean of the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Alberta. Passionate about relational nursing leadership that empowers individuals, teams, and organizations to achieve shared goals, Dr. Cummings aims the faculty to be among the top academic and research-intensive nursing faculties internationally, with strength and expertise in aging and chronicity, health equity, health systems and global health.
Dr. Cummings also leads the CLEAR Outcomes (Connecting Leadership Education & Research) research program in leadership science in health systems, which focuses on the leadership practices of health-care decision-makers to achieve better outcomes for providers and patients. Dr. Cummings has systematically documented both positive and negative effects of specific leadership practices on outcomes for the health system, the health-care workforce and for patients. Dr. Cummings also leads the Older Persons’ Transitions in Care (OPTIC) research program which examines the quality of transitions of frail elderly clients across three care settings: residential care facilities, Emergency Medical Services, and Emergency Departments. OPTIC aims to develop, implement and evaluate interventions to avoid unnecessary transitions for frail seniors and to improve those that must occur.
Dr. Cummings has published over 200 papers and is a 2014 Highly Cited Researcher in Social Sciences (Thomson Reuters). Dr. Cummings’ has received the Canadian Nurses Association Order of Merit for Research, and in 2015 was inaugurated into the Sigma Theta Tau International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame.