Dean Frazier's Message Honoring National Nurses Week 2026
Dear Columbia Nursing Community,
Today marks the beginning of National Nurses Week, and this year’s theme—“The Power of Nurses”—is especially timely. Nurses have always been celebrated for our resiliency, our compassion, and our expertise. And now we’re being saluted for the power we’ve always known we possess: to advocate for our patients—of course in clinical settings, but also in the public square as we help to improve access to care, promote wellness, advance research and innovation, and drive improved policies.
Indeed, this annual observance of nurses comes in 2026 amid heightened recognition of our beloved profession’s impact. Nursing has made major headlines in recent months, as a career of the future and an essential investment in the health of our communities. The Wall Street Journal called nursing “the new surefire path to American prosperity” in a recent story, pointing to plentiful jobs, high wages, and steady job growth, and highlighted the nursing boom in another article. NBC Nightly News pointed to nursing as more insulated than most careers from the disruptions of artificial intelligence, because it relies so heavily on the human elements of empathy, judgment, and physical touch.
And that is what I believe truly sets nursing, especially the Columbia Nursing community, apart: our collective commitment to nursing’s core values of human dignity, integrity, autonomy, altruism, and social justice.
The fulfillment and meaning that our students and faculty derive from their identity as nurses is very movingly evidenced in two short videos that you can watch at the links below. I assure you you’ll be touched and inspired, as I was, by the joy they express.
As we kick off National Nurses Week (and look forward to honoring our amazing graduates at commencement), please join us to celebrate on social all week long. You’ll find more to inspire you and bring you joy. It is certainly a great joy for me to serve as your dean.
Dean Frazier
Lorraine Frazier, PhD, RN, FAAN
Dean and Mary O’Neil Mundinger Professor
Senior Vice President, Columbia University Irving Medical Center