Academic Nurse The - Columbia University School of Nursing

4 • Academic Nurse
A Turning Point
dr. berkowitz comes to Columbia after
14 years at the university of Washington
in seattle. The start of her career at
Washington already marked a significant
milestone. she had just finished a
stint as deputy secretary of Washington
state’s health department, where she
headed up efforts to reform the state’s
health system. her stretch of public
service led to the implementation of a
plan aimed at increasing the number
of healthier people through enhanced
access to health care that was efficient
and effective—an early peek at what
national health reform might look like.
“The robert Wood Johnson
Foundation heard me speaking
about our efforts at a conference,”
berkowitz said. “The foundation told
me they wanted to form an initiative
around the work we had done in my
state and take it nationwide.”
“The great thing about Columbia nursing, and what
attracted me, is that it has developed a legacy for
advanced practice nursing.”
Dr. Berkowitz
and her golden
retriever Simon