(November 30, 2020) ProfessorElda Ramirez, PhD, RN, ENP-C, has been named to the newly created position of Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth effective December 1, 2020.
“Establishing this key leadership position has been one of my highest priorities to advance the health and well-being of the diverse communities we serve in addition to working toward ensuring equitable representation of these communities among our faculty, staff, and student body,” said DeanDiane Santa Maria, DrPH, MSN, RN. “Dr. Ramirez has been serving as the school’s champion of DEI, and I look forward to working with her and supporting the expansion of her efforts as assistant dean.”
“I am very excited and grateful to be selected for this new role at Cizik School of Nursing,” said Dr. Ramirez. “DEI isn’t a goal to be achieved but an ongoing process of self-reflection and purposeful action, and I am honored to lead continuing efforts to enhance awareness, acceptance, and representation of all groups within our communities.”
In October 2020, Dr. Ramirez was selected to represent the school on the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s (AACN’s)Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Group.She has participated in and presented at national conferences focused on DEI, including events sponsored by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, American Association of Nurse Practitioners, Emergency Nurses Association, and the American Academy of Emergency Nurse Practitioners (which she founded). She also has hosted several webinars on related topics for Cizik School of Nursing faculty and staff.
Dr. Ramirez joined Cizik School of Nursing’s faculty in 1994 as a clinical instructor in the Acute and Continuing Care Department and now serves as professor of clinical nursing. She received her PhD from Texas Woman’s University in 2006, MSN from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston in 1993, her BSN from Cizik School of Nursing in 1988, and pre-nursing credits from the University of Houston.