WASHINGTON -- A nurse executive specializing in mental health is the first Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) employee selected for the Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellows Program.
Susan McCutcheon, a mental health service line executive at the VA Medical Center in Cleveland, is one of 20 senior executive nurses to qualify for the philanthropy's three-year leadership training program.
"I am proud that Susan McCutcheon is our first Fellow in this highly regarded program," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi. "I am confident she will have a substantial impact on VA's health care system, especially in her area of emphasis, improving care for seriously mentally ill veterans."
McCutcheon has been the director for the Cleveland VAMC's Community Mental Health Division since 1998. A registered nurse with a doctorate in education, she has been with the medical center since 1983 in various administrative and clinical positions.
The Executive Nurse Fellows Program is designed for recipients to remain in their positions during the fellowship that includes formal training, self-directed activities and a mentoring experience with a senior executive. Laura Miller, VA's Assistant Deputy Under Secretary for Health, will be McCutcheon's mentor. VA will support McCutcheon's project with $30,000.
VA has the largest nursing staff of any hospital system in the world with more than 60,000 people nationwide. It is also the largest single provider of clinical nurse education in the United States. Composed of registered, licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses and nursing assistants, the VA nursing team provides health care to veterans in hundreds of facilities across the nation. VA nurses also function as administrators, researchers and educators, with many holding faculty appointments at affiliated schools of nursing.
