John T. Monahan (COL ’83, LAW ’87) replaced Carole Roan Gresenz as the interim dean of the School of Nursing and Health Studies (NHS) on Sept. 27, following an email to the student body sent by President John DeGioia. Gresenz will return to the Georgetown faculty as a full professor in the NHS’s department of health systems administration.
Gresenz became interim dean in Sept. 2019 after Patricia Cloonan stepped down as NHS dean, a position she had held for five years. In July 2022, the NHS will split into the Georgetown School of Nursing and the Georgetown School of Health, an announcement made when Gresenz was interim dean. Monahan will serve as dean until the split is finalized.
Monahan is a professor of medicine in the School of Medicine, a senior lecturer at the Law Center, and a senior fellow in the McCourt School of Public Policy. He has also held roles in the U.S. government, including Director of the Office of Global Health Affairs in the Department of Health and Human Services and Special Advisor for Global Health Partnerships in the Department of State.
In a letter to the NHS community, Monahan expressed his admiration of the NHS’s values. “NHS’s mission, vision and values resonate strongly with me, especially the underlying commitment to social justice through the education of our students; research that changes practice and policy; and service to our local, national, and global communities,” he wrote.
“Much of my time and energy over the last two years was focused on helping navigate the school through the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought profound changes for our students, faculty, staff, and larger community,” Gresenz said. “As interim dean, I was also involved over the last year in planning for the new schools of nursing and of health that were announced by President DeGioia in 2020.”
As a newly-returned faculty member, Gresenz will continue work on a wide range of research projects.
“I am very much looking forward to working on a project I have on the financial consequences of early-stage Alzheimer’s disease as well as other projects, including a study I am doing with Professor Lisa Singh that is looking at the usefulness of social media data for informing gun policy,” Gresenz said in an interview with the Voice.
In addition to developing new research project proposals, Gresenz looks forward to being a mentor to students carrying out their own research.
“The future is bright and strong,” Monahan said in an interview with the Voice. “NHS will be transitioning to standalone schools of nursing and health next year. This presents an extraordinary opportunity to continue building on the excellence in teaching, research, and service that has characterized NHS for many years.”
