Center for Clinical and Translational Science

Lynda Olender joins Rockefeller University Hospital as the Director of Nursing and Patient Care Services this Fall, 2012. As a distinguished nurse leader, she brings over 40 years of experience from a variety of settings, including her previous role as an international consultant, her 10-year experience as a Chief Nursing Officer, as an Assistant Professor of Nursing at New York University, and in her most previous role as an Executive Consultant and Nurse Researcher at the James J. Peters VAMC. In her latter role she served as Co-Principal Investigator of an AONE seed grant-awarded study looking at the impact of a professional practice model with shared governance (PPMSG) on caring, work engagement and work empowerment in interdisciplinary staff within a tertiary inpatient VA healthcare setting.

Ms. Olender received her original nursing training at Kings County Hospital School of Nursing, her Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing from the College of Staten Island, her Master's Degree in Nursing Administration at New York Universtity, her Post Masters's Certificate as an Adult Nurse Practitioner at Adelphi, and is currently completing her Ph.D in Nursing at Seton Hall University. Attesting to the merit of her doctoral work, she is the recipient of a Sigma Theta Tau grant to support her dissertation designed to examine the relationship between nurse manager caring and workplace bullying in nursing.

Throughout her career, Ms. Olender has studied academic and clinical nursing workplace incivility and bullying among peers and faculty. To that end, she has authored numerous publications and book chapters to create awareness of its prevalence and insidious nature, as well as making recommendations for the minimization and/or eradication of disruptive behavior in these settings. She has presented this work to a variety of audiences. She brings her passion for creating a culture of regard, both to academic and clinical venues and specifically, to Rockefeller University Hospital.

Ms. Olender is active within her profession and her local community as well. Currently, she serves as the Treasurer for the Greater New York Organization for Nurse Executives, has served two terms as Chair of the New York State Nursing Association’s Council of Continuing Education, and is active within her church affiliation.
Here at Rockefeller University Hospital, in addition to her role as Director of Nursing and Patient Care Services, she also serves as Director of the Heilbrunn Family Center for Research Nursing. In this capacity, she is building upon the accomplishments of her previous predecessors and the advice of the distinguished External Advisory Board to enhance the role of the Clinical Research Nurse and to foster professional collaboration between Clinical Research Nurses and nurse investigators at Rockefeller University Hospital. Academic offerings include seminars and workshops to enhance the engagement of, and generate innovation among research nurses. In collaboration with Women & Science, Rockefeller University Hospital will once again host the Annual Beatrice Renfield Lectureship in Research Nursing on February 26, 2013.

Her work will also include enhancing the standards for the specialty practice of research nursing, the development of related education and training resources, and in collaboration with the International Association of Clinical Research Nursing (IACRN) nurse leaders at both national and international level, the development of a research agenda for Clinical Research Nurses.

We welcome Ms. Olender to our academic and clinical community!