By Duke Medicine News and Communications

Mary Ann Fuchs, DNP, RN, FAAN, Vice President of Patient Care & System Chief Nurse Executive, Duke University Health System, was officially inducted as a Fellow during a formal ceremony Saturday, October 13th, in Washington, D.C. as part of the American Academy of Nursing's 39th Annual Meeting and Conference.

Mary Ann brings more than 30 years of nursing clinical and executive management experience to the health system, developing and implementing nursing professional practice and health care quality and clinical services delivery. Fuchs is a member of the corporate executive team and is a clinical associate in the Duke University School of Nursing.

"I am humbled to be recognized as a natural leader by the Academy and I look forward to continuing to serve as a leader in the quality of health care in the United States," says Fuchs.

Being inducted as a Fellow is one of the highest honors in the nation a nurse can receive, and it is bestowed upon nursing leaders at the Academy's invitation.

Invitation to Fellowship is more than recognition of one's accomplishments within the nursing profession. Academy Fellows also have a responsibility to contribute their time and energies to the Academy, and to engage with other health care leaders outside the Academy in transforming America's health care system by:

• Enhancing the quality of health and nursing care;
• Promoting healthy aging and human development across the life continuum;
• Reducing health disparities and inequalities;
• Shaping healthy behaviors and environments;
• Integrating mental and physical health care; and
• Strengthening the nursing and health care delivery system, nationally and internationally.

The American Academy of Nursing's approximately 1,890 Fellows are nursing's most accomplished leaders in education, management, practice and research. They have been recognized for their extraordinary nursing careers and are among the nation's most highly-educated citizens.