Patricia Flatley Brennan is the director of the

National Library of Medicine The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), operated by the United States federal government, is the world's largest medical library. Located in Bethesda, Maryland, the NLM is an institute within the National Institutes of Health. Its ...

. Prior to that, she was the Lillian L. Moehlman Bascom Professor, School of Nursing and College of Engineering, at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

. Brennan received a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

nursing Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...

from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

and a Ph.D. in

industrial engineering Industrial engineering is an engineering profession that is concerned with the optimization of complex process (engineering), processes, systems, or organizations by developing, improving and implementing integrated systems of people, money, kno ...

from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.Patricia Brennan faculty page
/ref> She served as chair of University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Engineering's Department of Industrial Engineering from 2007 to 2010.

Career

Following seven years of clinical practice in

critical care nursing Critical care nursing is the field of nursing with a focus on the utmost care of the critically ill or unstable patients following extensive injury, surgery or life threatening diseases. Critical care nurses can be found working in a wide variety o ...

and

psychiatric nursing Psychiatric nursing or mental health nursing is the appointed position of a nurse that specialises in mental health, and cares for people of all ages experiencing mental illnesses or distress. These include: neurodevelopmental disorders, schizoph ...

, Brennan held several academic positions. She developed ComputerLink, an electronic network designed to reduce isolation and improve self-care among

home care Homecare (also spelled as home care) is health care or supportive care provided by a professional caregiver in the individual home where the patient or client is living, as opposed to care provided in group accommodations like clinics or nursing ho ...

patients. Brennan is the National Program Director of Project HealthDesign, a

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is an American philanthropic organization. It is the largest one focused solely on health. Based in Princeton, New Jersey, the foundation focuses on access to health care, public health, health equity, ...

-funded initiative designed to stimulate the next generation of personal health records. In the context of that project, she coined the phrase " Observations of Daily Living" with her team, referring to observations people make about their health in everyday life. Additionally, she leads the WI-TECNE project, a statewide nursing faculty development effort supported by

HRSA The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services located in North Bethesda, Maryland. It is the primary federal agency for improving access to health care services for peopl ...

that aims to improve the integration of informatics and

telehealth Telehealth is the distribution of health-related services and information via electronic information and telecommunication technologies. It allows long-distance patient and clinician contact, care, advice, reminders, education, intervention, mon ...

into nursing curricula. As of June 2009, Brennan was a theme leader of the Living Environments Lab at the

Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery The Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery is a public-private research and outreach partnership that is located in the Discovery Building on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus. It consists of two institutions: the privately funded Morgridge ...

, researching home health care technologies using virtual reality and simulation technology.Brennan Health Systems Lab
/ref> A fellow of both the

American Academy of Nursing The American Academy of Nursing (AAN) is a professional organization that generates, synthesizes, and disseminates nursing knowledge to contribute to health policy and practice for the benefit of the public and the nursing profession. Founded in ...

(1991) and the

American College of Medical Informatics The American College of Medical Informatics (ACMI) is a college of elected fellows from the United States and abroad who have made significant and sustained contributions to the field of medical informatics. Initially incorporated in 1984, the o ...

(1993), Brennan was elected a member of the

Institute of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, E ...

in 2001.MNRS Honors Brennan
In 2016, she was appointed director of the

, where her term started in August 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brennan, Patricia Flatley Living people American nurses American women nurses Health informaticians University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty Fellows of the American Academy of Nursing Nursing informatics Nursing educators Nursing researchers Members of the National Academy of Medicine University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Engineering alumni Year of birth missing (living people) National Institutes of Health people 21st-century American women scientists United States National Library of Medicine Place of birth missing (living people) University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing alumni American women academics