Brown Selected to Lead Golisano Institute for Developmental Disability Nursing

PITTSFORD, N.Y., Oct. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- St. John Fisher University has appointed Dr. Holly Brown as the new executive director of the Golisano Institute for Developmental Disability Nursing. Established in 2018 through the generosity of the Golisano Foundation and B. Thomas Golisano, the Institute transforms the quality of care and support for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) regionally, nationally, and internationally by training nursing professionals in field-specific skills and knowledge. 

Brown succeeds Dr. Dianne Cooney Miner, founding director of the Institute, who has moved into the role of senior advisor. She joined the Institute in fall 2019 as the associate director and also serves as an associate professor in the Wegmans School of Nursing. Additionally, she maintains part-time clinical practice as the senior psychiatric nurse practitioner serving youth diagnosed with intellectual/developmental disabilities (IDD) and mental health conditions and their families.

"The Golisano Institute is committed to integrating scholarship, clinical practice, and service to transform the training and clinical experiences of nurses and the health care experience for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities," said Brown. "It has been the highlight of my career to serve as the associate director for the Institute, and I am honored to step into this new role."

A nationally certified family psychiatric nurse practitioner, Brown is one of a small number of psychiatric nurse practitioners in the Rochester region who specialize in the care of people with IDD and one of an even smaller number working with children and youth, specifically.

With the Institute, Brown has served as the primary investigator on a number of grants, bringing in more than $475,000 in funding for the Institute. Two grants from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation supported the program, Optimizing Outcomes for Hospitalized Patients with IDD. A grant from the Special Olympics Inclusive Health Innovation program funded the development of an inclusive health primary care residency curriculum designed for integration into existing nurse practitioner residency programs.

Brown is a member of the Alliance for Disability in Health Care Education; American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities; and Developmental Disabilities Nurses Association, among others. She holds a bachelor's degree in nursing and a master's degree in psychiatric/mental health nursing from the State University of New York at Stony Brook School of Nursing, as well as her Doctor of Nursing Practice from the University of Rochester School of Nursing. 

For more information about Golisano Institute, visit the go.sjf.edu/golisanoinstitute.

SOURCE St. John Fisher University