Karen Daley, PhD, RN, FAAN, served from 2010 to 2014 as the president of the American Nurses Association, the nation’s largest nursing organization representing the interests of the nation’s 3.5 million registered nurses. She is a past president of ANA Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Center for Nursing and has served on the boards of ANA, the American Nurses Credentialing Center, and the ANA-PAC. She is a current member of the Board of Trustees of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, the International Safety Center, the American Nurses Foundation and the Barnstable Land Trust and has an appointment as Adjunct Assistant Professor at Case Western Reserve University.
A resident of Mashpee, MA, Daley spent more than 25 years in clinical practice at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. She practiced for more than 22 years in the BWH emergency department until January of 1999 when she left due to a needlestick injury that resulted in her infection with both HIV and hepatitis C. Since that time, she has been actively engaged on state, national and international levels as an advocate for use of safer needle devices in health care practice settings.
She has been honored for her excellence in practice and outstanding leadership, including being recognized as a living nurse legend by ANA-Massachusetts. In 2006, she was inducted as a Fellow into the American Academy of Nursing in recognition of her sharps injury prevention advocacy work. In 2011, Daley was listed among Modern Healthcare’s “100 Most Influential People in Health Care” and, in 2013, was selected by Modern Healthcare as one of the “Top 25 Women in Healthcare.” In 2015, in recognition of her global public health advocacy and leadership, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by Rivier University in Nashua, New Hampshire and in 2017, received her second honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Curry College in Milton, Massachusetts. In 2022, she was the recipient of the ANA President’s Award.
Daley holds a diploma in nursing from Catherine Labouré School of Nursing, a bachelor’s of science in nursing from Curry College, a master’s in public health from Boston University School of Public Health, and master’s in science and PhD in nursing from Boston College.
Categories: Health Care, Health Care - Inspiration / Survivor, Health Care - Patient Safety, Quality, Nursing / Care for the Caregiver, HIV/AIDS, Human Interest, Inspiration, Local to New England
