SACRAMENTO, CA — More than a dozen nursing leaders from across the nation met here this week to participate in an inaugural strategic design summit for the future of nursing and to help create the new school of nursing at the UC Davis Health System.

The summit team’s goal was to articulate curriculum and research priorities to prepare 21st-century nurses. That work will be circulated to nursing educators, scientists, thought leaders and stakeholders for further political and visionary insight

Key areas of discussion from the summit included nursing trends now and during the next 20 years, curriculum priorities for the proposed Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, areas of research to develop and how to identify and recruit faculty to develop this agenda.

Heather M. Young, associate vice chancellor for the proposed Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis, invited the nursing leaders and led the summit. Young is a nationally recognized expert in gerontological nursing and rural health. The new school of nursing at UC Davis is now under review by the University of California Board of Regents. Upon regental approval of the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, Young also will hold the title of dean at the school.

"We are collaborating with a variety of individuals to develop our educational and research programs to enact the vision. There are many people who can contribute critical experience and innovative ideas to this development process," Young said. "We have this unprecedented opportunity and we want to take full advantage of the chance to create solutions for the future that will improve health and health care. We are grateful nursing leaders are willing to provide our team their valuable insight."

UC Davis is establishing the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing with a $100 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the largest philanthropic commitment in the nation in support of nursing education. The UC Davis School of Nursing will bear the name of visionary philanthropist Betty Irene Moore, who with her husband established the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

Once established, the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis will join professional schools of medicine, veterinary medicine, law, business and education. In addition to the funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, a mix of public funding and additional philanthropic support from other donors will be required to realize the long-term vision for the school.

The new school aims to foster nursing excellence through a comprehensive educational model that incorporates scientific rigor and immersive, interprofessional education for its students. The school will provide a comprehensive educational opportunity that couples academic rigor common to both nursing and medicine, with interdisciplinary educational opportunities in basic sciences, humanities, public health, business administration and information technology.

The Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing will be part of UC Davis Health System, an integrated, academic health system encompassing UC Davis School of Medicine, the 577-bed acute-care hospital and clinical services of UC Davis Medical Center, and the 800-member physician group known as UC Davis Medical Group. To learn more about the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, visit the Web site at www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/nursing.

The school anticipates accepting its first class of 50 candidates for the Master of Science in Nursing program and eight candidates for the doctoral program in the fall of 2010.The Bachelor of Science in Nursing program will open in fall 2011.

Graduates will serve as educators, researchers and leaders of health-care teams that advance patient-care quality and safety, prevent and treat disease, and improve access to health care in an ever-changing and increasingly complex national health-care system.

About the University of California, Davis 

For 100 years, UC Davis has engaged in teaching, research and public service that matters to California and transforms the world. Located close to the state capital, UC Davis has 31,000 students, an annual research budget that exceeds $500 million, a comprehensive health system and 13 specialized research centers. The university offers interdisciplinary graduate study and more than 100 undergraduate majors in four colleges—Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Biological Sciences, Engineering, and Letters and Science—and advanced degrees from five professional schools—Education, Law, Management, Medicine, and Veterinary Medicine. The UC Davis School of Medicine and UC Davis Medical Center are located on the Sacramento campus near downtown.

About the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation 

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, established in 2000, seeks to advance environmental conservation and scientific research around the world and improve the quality of life in the San Francisco Bay Area. For more information, please visit www.moore.org.