The Marian K. Shaughnessy Nurse Leadership Academy participated in the UN CSW67 Forum and the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). The UN CSW67 is one of the largest gatherings of feminist civil society and women’s rights activists. The Shaughnessy Nurse Leadership Academy and its supporters participated in four sessions earlier this month in New York City.
The first panel discussion began with Joyce Fitzpatrick, director of the Shaughnessy Nurse Leadership Academy, Carolyn Jones, an award-winning filmmaker and emeritus board member of the Marian K. Shaughnessy Nurse Leadership Academy, and Lisa Frank, an award-winning producer. They presented on maternal and child mortality in the U.S., highlighting the United Nations’ call for all countries to reduce their under-5 mortality rate to at least 25 deaths per 1,000 live births and neonatal mortality rate to at least 12 deaths per 1,000 live births by 2030. Jones and Frank shared a preview of their forthcoming documentary film, The Catalysts, which profiles American families affected by maternal and child mortality. Shamian and Fitzpatrick serve as advisors to the film. The panel, organized by Holly Shaw, International Council of Nurses Representative at the United Nations, also included Leslie Mancuso, president and CEO of Jhpiego, an international nonprofit health organization affiliated with Johns Hopkins University and Judith Shamian, chair of the Scientific Advisory Board at Emulait, Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing alumnus, Marian K. Shaughnessy Nurse Leadership Academy board member, and Veale Institute Entrepreneur in Residence.
The second panel featured global perspectives from several experts on mentoring in various contexts, including Shaw, Shamian, Mancuso, Daisy Ruto, Fitzpatrick and Ai Tanimizu. The panelists addressed cross-continent and cross-generational mentoring, developing national mentorship programs for human resources, growing talent in the South-East Asia World Health Organization and member states, and essential investments in innovations for women’s well-being in the digital era.
The third panel, led by Shamian, featured a student team of Mary Godley, Marilyn Gurrola, Corey Smith and Alexis Tran from Weatherhead School of Management, Shaw, Avigayil Ellen and Tal Tirosh discussing “Advocating for Workplace Policies and Accommodations to Facilitate Women’s Career Trajectory.” The student team is supporting a startup, Emulait, a biomimetic feeding system that closes the gap between breast and bottle so that everyone can provide the best feeding experience possible for their babies, as part of a course led by Weatherhead School of Management Adjunct Professors, Brett Hazard, head of commercial operations and implementation at JLL Technologies, and John Taylor, director at Sirius, focused on market research and strategy through action learning.
Shamian, Tirosh and Shilo Ben Zeer, CEO of Emulait, and Mindy Baierl, senior director of the Veale Institute for Entrepreneurship, concluded the Shaughnessy Nurse Leadership Academy’s participation in CSW67 with a presentation titled “Essential Investments in Innovations for Women’s Well-being in the Digital Era.” Their presentation called for governments, private sector industry, and civil society to establish policies, incentives and best practices for increasing investments in women’s healthcare startups.
“The Veale Institute and Shaughnessy Nurse Leadership Academy have partnered to accelerate innovation in women’s health through nursing leadership and entrepreneurship” said Baierl.