School Notes: School of Nursing
September/October 2022

Dean to step down after seven years

Dean Ann Kurth ’90MSN, Linda Koch Lorimer Professor of Nursing, will step down from her second term as dean at the end of 2022 and assume her new position as president of the New York Academy of Medicine on January 1, 2023. She will be the first nonphysician to lead the academy in its 175-year history. 

Among Kurth’s accomplishments in her seven years as dean: she chaired the Sustainability Committee and served on Yale’s climate task force that helped the university establish its zero-carbon commitments. She cofounded, along with the deans of the Schools of Medicine and Public Health, the Yale Institute for Global Health in 2017. In 2016 she established YSN’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and today YSN student and faculty bodies are the most representative and diverse in the school’s history. As COVID-19 swept the world, Kurth served on the university’s Public Health Committee, helping guide Yale’s COVID-19 policies.

Alumna named first Native American US treasurer

YSN alumna Marilynn “Lynn” Malerba ’15DNP will make history as the first Native American to serve as treasurer of the United States, and when her signature appears on the nation’s currency, it will be the first inked by a tribal leader and Native American woman.

Malerba became the 18th chief of the Mohegan Tribe in 2010, a lifetime position. She is the first female chief in the tribe’s modern history, and her previous experience includes serving as the chairwoman of the Tribal Council and in tribal government as executive director of Health and Human Services. Malerba also cites her nursing experience: “Nurses have so many skills that are translatable to other career opportunities, especially in the policy realm. I encourage all nurses to make a difference at the highest levels possible.”