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Mairead Hickey, PhD, RN, FAHA, who began her nursing career at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (PBBH) in 1972, was named chief nursing officer and senior vice president of Patient Care Services. BWH President Gary Gottlieb this week announced her appointment effective immediately, ending her month-long interim assignment.
“Mairead has been a vital member of the BWH Executive Management team since 1999, a leader in BWH quality and patient safety initiatives and a mentor for nursing directors and managers,” Gottlieb said. “Her commitment to Nursing at this hospital dates back more than three decades.”
Hickey, vice president of Women's and Specialty Services since 1999, said,
“It is an honor to be asked to serve in this position. I am and will always be a nurse, and it's a distinct privilege to be the voice of BWH nurses among the leadership of this institution.”
Hickey's family has strong ties to nursing and BWH. Her mother, Louise Hickey, who passed away last year, attended Peter Bent Brigham School of Nursing and served as chief nursing officer at Melrose Wakefield Hospital for many years. Her sister, Patty, is a nurse and vice president at Children's Hospital Boston and, along with Mairead, began her nursing career at PBBH. “My mother held the Brigham in such high regard, I consider this appointment a tribute to her,” Hickey said.
For Hickey, Nursing has been her life's work since graduating from Boston College when she became a staff nurse and nursing instructor at PBBH. She earned her PhD and studied risk related behaviors in myocardial infarction patients and then became an associate professor at Yale University School of Nursing and director of Graduate Nursing for clinical nurse specialists.
She returned to BWH in 1992 to create the Nursing Research Program, and through 1999, she held several director-level positions, including Patient Care Services, Research and Outcome Measurement, and Quality Management Services. Hickey has served as an adjunct professor at Harvard School of Public Health and now holds an appointment at Boston College School of Nursing. She is widely published with dozens of peer-reviewed papers on topics such as quality and safety in nursing care and the needs of families of critically ill patients to her credit.
“Mairead is such a positive role model for our BWH community, and her leadership extends to the national stage where she serves on numerous boards for professional journals and organizations such as the American Association of Critical Care Nursing and the American Heart Association,” Gottlieb said.
Hickey follows Nancy Kruger, chief nursing officer and vice president of Patient Care Services for the last five years, who retired last month.