Distinguished Alumni

Linda Searle Leach, M.N. ’80, Ph.D.
An assistant professor in the UCLA School of Nursing who also has an appointment as a nurse scientist with the Nursing Research Program at Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Leach is a health services researcher who examines healthcare organizations, nursing administration and leadership, the professional role of the registered nurse, and care delivery issues including patient safety. She coauthored a policy report, California’s Nursing Workforce: Increasing Capacity in Schools of Nursing for the California Institute for Nursing and Health Care, outlining recommendations to address nursing educational capacity issues for the State of California. Prior to joining the faculty at UCLA, Leach was involved with the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Versant RN Residency, where she designed and evaluated a version of an innovative approach to advanced education for nurses. Leach was the national president of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), the world’s largest specialty nursing organization, and president of the AACN Certification Corporation in 1988-89.



Sherri Rasmussen, M.N. ’80
Rasmussen was a nurse manager of the coronary care (critical care) unit at UCLA Medical Center, where she was considered an expert clinician and leader in the care of cardiac and critical care patients, exerting her influence over clinical practice through her leadership, publications, and presentations. She went on to become nursing director of the critical care units at Glendale Adventist Medical Center, a position she held when, tragically, she was murdered in 1986. She was a tireless advocate for patients, ensuring that they received the highest-quality professional and compassionate care possible. Rasmussen’s leadership and guidance created an environment in which there was a sense of common purpose, high morale and teamwork. Whether delivering care herself or supervising others, she was dedicated to the highest principles of nursing practice. Rasmussen, who entered college at age 16, was described as “brilliant” by her peers at the UCLA School of Nursing, where she obtained her master’s. She also taught at the school and lectured internationally on critical care nursing.


Syd Whalley, M.N. ’80, J.D.
With encouragement from a public health nurse she met while in high school, Whalley enrolled in Cornell University School of Nursing, graduating in 1975. After three years as a pediatric nurse, she decided to specialize in pediatric oncology nursing and applied to the UCLA School of Nursing for graduate education. Whalley started the Bone Marrow Transplant Program at Children’s Hospital-Los Angeles, and served as the program’s clinical nurse specialist for seven years. Later, Whalley became interested in politics and healthcare policy, enrolling at the UCLA School of Law and graduating in 2001. In March 2005 she joined the Western Center on Law and Poverty, the state’s oldest and largest legal services support center, as a foster care benefits advocate, and later became the organization’s executive director, a position she held until early 2009.





 Barbara J. Riegel, M.N. ’83, D.N.Sc. ’91
Riegel was part of the school’s first doctoral class, graduating in 1991. After earning the degree, she worked as a clinical researcher for Sharp HealthCare in San Diego, then as a member of the faculty at the School of Nursing at San Diego State University. In 2002 she joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, where she is currently a professor of nursing as well as an editor of the Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing. An active nurse scientist who studies adults with cardiovascular disease, Riegel focuses her research in the self-care of adults with heart failure. She has lectured around the world on the issues faced by these patients and has written more than 150 scholarly publications in peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary, and international journals. She is a fellow in the American Heart Association and American Academy of Nursing.





Mary E. Bowen (Roth), M.N. ’84, J.D., D.N.Sc.
Since January, Bowen has been professor of nursing and director of the School of Nursing at Ohio University. Previously, she was associate dean for research and faculty development at Thomas Jefferson University, Jefferson School of Nursing in Philadelphia. In addition to extensive involvement in teaching and curriculum development, Bowen has launched an online Master’s in Nursing degree program and has published and presented papers nationally and internationally in online education. After her UCLA School of Nursing education, Bowen went on to earn her doctorate and J.D. degrees from the University of San Diego. In addition to experience in teaching, administration of higher nursing education, grant writing, and curriculum development, she has nearly two decades of clinical experience. Bowen was appointed by Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell to the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing in September 2003 for six years. In 2004 she was elected to the nominating committee of the National Council State Boards of Nursing.



Elizabeth D. Tate, M.N. ’85
A board-certified family nurse practitioner and clinical instructor in the Department of Neurology at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Tate has for the last 19 years specialized in pediatric movement disorders, serving as clinical director and co-founder of the National Pediatric Myoclonus Center. In 2007 she received the national Claire Chee Award for Excellence in Child Neurology Nursing from the Association of Child Neurology Nurses. The annual award “recognizes and honors the nurse who has rendered distinguished service within the profession of child neurology nursing, and who demonstrates, through strength of character and competence, a commitment to the care of children and their families with neurological disorders.” Tate was first author of Unforgettable Faces: Through the Eyes of a Nurse Practitioner (Atheneum Press, 1999), an exploration of the bonds between a nurse practitioner and her patients and her professional role.




Lynn V. Doering, M.N. ’86, D.N.Sc. ’94
During her tenure as a professor at the school – including chair of the school’s Acute Care Section since 2002 – Doering has been instrumental in the implementation of the Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program. She has also developed a research program focusing on the evaluation of physiologic and psychosocial adaptation in high-risk patients with cardiac disease. Most recently, Doering’s work has focused on the relationship of inflammatory biomarkers for depression and its treatment in patients recovering from coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Doering took an unusual route to nursing. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Stanford University, then took a position as a ward secretary at UC San Francisco’s Moffitt Hospital. There, she saw firsthand how important nursing care was to patients’ physical and emotional recovery. She went on to become a cardiology clinical nurse specialist under the mentorship of Dr. Kathleen Dracup, then a professor at the UCLA School of Nursing and now dean of the UC San Francisco School of Nursing. After earning her doctorate, Doering joined the UCLA School of Nursing faculty for the 1994-95 academic year.



Debra K. Moser, M.N. ’88, D.N.Sc. ’92
Moser, known for her expertise in heart failure and acute myocardial infarction patient care, is professor and holder of the first endowed chair in nursing at the University of Kentucky. In addition to her academic position, she is co-editor of the Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, co-director of the RICH Heart Program, and director of the Center for Biobehavioral Research in Self-Management of Cardiopulmonary Disease. She has published more than 180 journal articles and three books, and lectures extensively. Moser’s research concentrates on improving morbidity, mortality, and quality of life outcomes in patients with heart failure and acute myocardial infarction. She also studies different healthcare delivery models for improving heart failure patient care. Moser’s research program includes more than $20 million in funding. Her work has been recognized with more than 23 awards, including the Lembright and Heart Failure Research Awards from the American Heart Association Council on Cardiovascular Nursing.




Deborah A. Rice, M.N. ’88
For more than 20 years Rice has been a family nurse practitioner in a private practice clinic in Lancaster, Calif., and since 1992 she has been a family medicine lecturer at the UCLA School of Nursing. In 1998 she was appointed by California’s governor to serve as a commissioner on the California Healthcare Workforce Policy Commission of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. The commission, on which Rice continues to serve, allocates funds from the Song-Brown Act – financially supporting family practice training programs in order to increase the supply of physicians, physician assistants, and family nurse practitioners, especially to medically underserved communities of California. Rice was also publicly elected to the Antelope Valley Hospital Board, serving two terms (1996 to 2004) and being elected board chair in 2001-2002. The board is responsible for the planning and provision of short- and long-term healthcare services. Antelope Valley Hospital has service areas that are designated as medically underserved. The hospital has an annual budget of more than $220 million, maintains a 334-bed facility and operates the second-busiest emergency room in the state.



 Mary A. Woo, M.N. ’88, D.N.Sc. ’92
Woo’s research has focused on investigations into autonomic-cardiac interactions in relation to sudden death risk, particularly in advanced heart failure patients. In her early studies focusing on heart rate variability as an independent predictor of sudden cardiac death risk in advanced heart failure patients, she used both traditional techniques and a new method she developed – called Poincare plots – that was the first heart rate variability technique to be an independent predictor of sudden death risk in advanced heart failure patients. More recently, she was the first investigator to report specific sites of gray matter loss in heart failure patients, and is currently funded by the National Institutes of Health to verify these findings in a larger sample of subjects. Woo has continued to examine predictors of sudden death risk as well as the influences of sleep and hemodynamics on heart rate variability and mortality in heart failure. After graduating from the school’s doctoral program Woo joined the school’s faculty, where she is currently a professor. She served as associate dean for research from 2001 to 2006.