Welcome Message from the Dean - Fall 2026

To the Columbia Nursing community,

Fall is such an energizing season! With everyone back on campus, the building is once again buzzing as we start the semester. But, in fact, Columbia Nursing never truly slows down.

Summer is a vital time for personal renewal for faculty and students alike for fortifying the foundations of our collective success, for reviewing the myriad details that keep our school thriving. This balance between the rebuilding of summer and the reengagement of the academic year is what keeps us deeply connected and forward-looking.

This year, I have some exciting updates to share as the school year gets underway:

• First, this month we’re celebrating the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Washington Heights location of the ColumbiaDoctors Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Group (NPG). This vital clinic serves both Washington Heights residents and the CUIMC community, while also providing essential rotations for our students. Throughout September, we’ll be celebrating the NPG’s impact over the past decade.
• Second, we’ve launched a new Doctor of Nursing Practice in Systems Leadership degree—a fully online, three-year program designed to prepare both advanced practice and master’s-prepared registered nurses to drive large-scale innovation across clinical and policy environments. Our program stands out among those of peer schools by offering two distinct specialties—AI/Informatics and Nursing Education. See the link above for more about it.
• We’re also continuing to focus efforts on AI's impact on nursing. In the curricular realm, we’re using AI in innovative ways to transform teaching and learning, including the use of live avatar technology. In our research endeavors, we’re both assessing AI’s impact on patient outcomes and tapping its analytical powers. And we’re looking at AI in nursing practice and its implications for our future workforce, including by hosting a two-day conference in December that will convene clinicians, researchers, health systems leaders, and industry partners to establish consensus on nursing-specific AI standards. Watch for details about this event soon.
• Finally, despite major changes in the research funding ecosystem, our research program continues to thrive. Recent achievements by our faculty include securing a nearly $8 million five-year grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to test the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of “Sleeping Healthy, Living Healthy”—a school-based intervention for urban adolescents with poor sleep-health habits.
• And there’s lots more news to share, so stay tuned for future updates.

In the meantime, I extend a warm welcome to all our students—new and returning. We can’t wait to see you advance in your careers. And don’t forget that all of us—faculty, administrators, and staff—are here to help you make the most of your educational journey and support your success!

And to the entire Columbia Nursing community, thank you for your partnership, collaboration, and resilience. I cannot imagine better role models for our student body! 

Lorraine Frazier, PhD, RN, FAAN
Dean and Mary O’Neil Mundinger Professor
Senior Vice President, Columbia University Irving Medical Center