Antonia Villarruel

Antonia M. Villarruel, Ph.D., RN, FAAN is the Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and Director of the School’s WHO Collaborating Center for Nursing and Midwifery Leadership. As a bilingual and bicultural researcher, Dr. Villarruel has extensive research and practice experience with Latino populations, health promotion and disparities. Using a community-based participatory approach, she has been the PI/Co-PI of over eight RCTs on reducing high risk behaviors in teens. One program, to reduce sexual risk behavior among Latino youth – entitled Cuídate! is disseminated nationally.  Dr. Villarruel holds many leadership positions.  She is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Nursing; serves as Chair of the IOM Roundtable on the Promotion of Health Equity and the Elimination of Health Disparities and Co-chair of the Strategic Advisory Council of the AARP/RWJ Future of Nursing Campaign for Action.  Most recently, Dr. Villarruel was a member of the National Academy of Medicine Committee on Educating Health Professionals to Address the Social Determinants of Health resulting in the report, A Framework for Educating Health Professionals to Address the Social Determinants of Health (2016).