Patricia M. Davidson

Patricia M. Davidson is an Australian professor of nursing and dean of the School of Nursing at Johns Hopkins University. She is best known for her contributions improving cardiac nursing and transitional care with a focus on under served populations in a global context, and for her leadership in higher education.
Davidson earned her BA (1985) in education and her MeD (1993) in education at Wollongong University, and she earned her doctorate in 2003 from the University of Newcastle (Australia).
Prior to joining Johns Hopkins University as Dean of Nursing in 2013, Davidson was a Professor at University of Technology, Director at Curtin University, and member of the faculty of Western Sydney University.
Davidson is an advocate for nursing in the public sphere, and she is a regular contributor to letter to the editor and to op-ed including the Huff Post where she has written about updating the modern image of nursing through the "#WeGotThis" campaign and about the role of men in nursing
In 2016, Davidson signed an open letter to the faculty of Johns Hopkins University re-affirming the institutional commitment to supporting the LGBT community including gender affirming surgery.
In 2007, Davidson was inducted as a Fellow of the Australian College of Nursing. In 2013, she was inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, a Fellow of the American Heart Association, and a Fellow of the Preventive Cardiovascular Nursing Association.
Davidson received the distinguished alumnus award from Wollongong University in 2013 and the distinguished alumnus award from University of Newcastle (Australia) in 2014.
In September 2020, Professor Davidson was named as the new incoming Vice Chancellor of the University of Wollongong. She will commence the role in May 2021. 