Dr. Roberta Waite, Dean and Professor at Georgetown University School of Nursing, has spent the past 35 years of her nursing career committed to dismantling health care disparities and leading efforts to advance health equity with a special emphasis on community-centered work. Having served on Trinity Health’s corporate health system board, the Governor’s Think Tank to develop guidelines for a Trauma-Informed Commonwealth of PA, and content expert for the National Commission to Address Racism in Nursing, Dr. Waite has continuously amplified the ideals of racial and social justice. These efforts continue to be uplifted in her work as Board Director for Family Process Institute, Independence Blue Cross Foundation, Georgetown MedStar hospital as well as her service on Advancing Health Equity’s National Advisory Board supported by the RWJF.

As an inaugural Macy Faculty Scholar, her educational research focused on leadership development of nursing and health professions students using a social justice lens. Dr. Waite is a staunch advocate for social justice and seeks to enhance community health with a focus on structural and social mechanisms that promote and detract from health. Recognition of her efforts have earned her numerous awards. In 2022, Waite was an awardee of Modern Healthcare’s Excellence in Governance Award because of her work on the corporate health system board with improvements in clinical quality, safety, and health equity, as well as her leadership in the expansion of community health and well-being programs along with her work in leading community outreach programs throughout the pandemic.

Waite earned her BSN and EdD in Higher Education Administration Leadership from Widener University. She earned her MSN in psychiatric-mental-health nursing and completed a 2-year post-doctoral research fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Nursing. She is a fellow in both the American Academy of Nursing and the Academy of Nursing Education.