As Dean and a Tenured Professor of Rutgers School of Nursing, Dr. Linda Flynn leads one of the largest, most highly ranked nursing schools in the U.S. She is renowned as a professor, academic leader, and national advocate for the nursing profession. She received the 2022 Nurse Educator of the Year award from the National League for Nursing and is one of only five nurse leaders to share this distinction.

After earning a B.S. in Nursing from the University of Maryland and an M.S. in Community Health Nursing, Dr. Flynn received her Ph.D. in Nursing Research from Rutgers School of Nursing and completed a prestigious postdoctoral research fellowship funded by the National Institutes of Health, at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research.

Dr. Flynn’s funded program of research on nurse staffing, healthcare culture, and patient outcomes has received international media attention and has influenced organizational, state, and federal policies. In recognition of this work, she is a past recipient of the New Jersey Governor’s Merit Award for excellence in research.

She is an inducted Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and an inducted Fellow in the New York Academy of Medicine. She serves as an honorary Senior Fellow at the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania. She is co-author of the textbook Nursing Policy Research: Turning Evidence-Based Research into Health Policy. In celebration of her accomplishments, Dr. Flynn received the 2015 Outstanding Alumni Award from the Rutgers School of Nursing Alumni Association.

Dr. Linda Flynn is married to Roger Warren Flynn, who is thrilled about her selection for Irish America’s Healthcare 50. Linda’s great-grandparents (on her mother’s side of the family) immigrated to New York City from Ireland, where her grandfather, James John Patrick Carey, was later born. Her husband’s grandfather, William Patrick Flynn, similarly came to the U.S. from his home in Ireland and settled in southern Maryland.

Linda Flynn is very proud of her Irish heritage and has thoroughly enjoyed her trips to Ireland. She would be happy to visit Ireland again soon – hopefully this time with her grandchildren, Jameson and Molly Flynn.