Georgetown University’s School of Nursing & Health Studies (NHS) will have a new interim dean by the end of the month.
John Monahan (CAS ’83, LAW ’87), who currently serves as a Georgetown University School of Medicine professor, Georgetown University Law Center senior lecturer, McCourt School of Public Policy senior fellow and the global health senior adviser to the university president, will begin his role as the NHS’ interim dean Sept. 26, according to a Sept. 21 university wide email from the Office of the President.
Since 2007, Monahan has taught courses at the NHS, the School of Foreign Service and the Law Center. He also served as the founding director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, a research institute for health policy analysis housed within the Law Center.
Monahan is confident his experience in government, philanthropy and academia has prepared him to guide the NHS to success this year as it begins the process of transitioning to two stand-alone schools, he wrote in an email to The Hoya.
“I will be focused on partnering with faculty, staff, and students to continue the great work at NHS during this academic year,” Monahan wrote. “As an alumnus, I want to pay special attention to the experience for all our students.”
In December 2020, the university announced the NHS will split into two separate schools, the Georgetown School of Nursing (GSN) and the Georgetown School of Health (GSH), by July 2022. Monahan will serve as dean until the two schools are established.
Selecting Monahan as interim dean reflects the university’s commitment to an efficient transition to the two new schools, according to Edward Healton, Georgetown School of Medicine’s dean.
“He embodies the ideals and qualities that NHS faculty and staff shared with me, through meetings and messages, that they felt would be helpful in an interim dean, and I am grateful for their important input,” Healton wrote in an email to the Georgetown University Medical Center community.
Carole Roan Gresenz, a professor in the NHS’ department of health systems administration, has served as the NHS’ interim dean since September 2019 and originally planned to serve as dean for only one year. Gresenz will step down from her role as dean Sept. 26 and return to her work as a professor, focusing on mentoring and health economics research, as well as serving as a special adviser for Georgetown’s health and health strategies work.
“I stayed on and served an additional year because of all the disruption that COVID caused,” Gresenz wrote in an email to The Hoya. “I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to lead the school during this unusual and challenging time and I am thankful for the grace and resiliency exhibited in our NHS community.”
Gresenz’s strong sense of determination and service to the NHS was necessary to overcome the past year’s challenges, according to Healton.
“When she agreed to pause her research to lead NHS, none of us had any idea how remarkably challenging higher education — or life — would become,” Healton wrote. “Throughout the pandemic, Carole led NHS with clarity and confidence when the unknowns often felt so overwhelming. Simply put, she is one of the most impressive leaders I’ve worked with.”
The university is currently in the process of searching for a new dean for the GSN and will begin the search for a new dean for the GSH in the near future, according to Gresenz.
“Planning for both schools is now well underway and the new interim dean, John Monahan, has been deeply engaged in planning since January of this year,” Gresenz wrote. “John brings not only a deep familiarity with NHS, but also decades of experience in public service, and tremendous skill in managing and navigating complex organizations.”
