University of Wisconsin at Madison, 1973-74, Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, Medical Sociology
University of Texas at Austin, 1973, Ph.D., Sociology (Specialization in Demography)
University of Florida, 1966, M.N., Nursing
University of Florida, 1964, B.S.N. Cum Laude, Nursing
Linda H. Aiken, PhD, RN directs the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research and is the Claire M. Fagin Leadership Professor of Nursing and Professor of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Dr. Aiken is a prominent health services researcher and an authority on the causes, consequences, and solutions for nurse shortages in the United States and around the world. Dr. Aiken co-directs RN4CAST, a study of the nursing workforce and quality of hospital care in 14 countries in Europe, China, South Africa, and Botswana. She serves as an advisory for the China Medical Board and is creating a network of 8 leading nursing schools in China to conduct policy relevant research. She is the founder and leader of the International Hospital Outcomes Consortium that has conducted national studies in 16 countries in many parts of the world. She also serves as an advisor to Dubai Health Care City in the development of its flagship university hospital and will direct a national study of hospital care in the United Arab Emirates. Dr. Aiken collaborated with American International Health Alliance in its twinning initiatives to improve health in the countries of the former Soviet Union. She has been a leader in the international dissemination of the evidence-based Magnet Recognition Program including the establishment of four highly acclaimed nursing programs of excellence in hospitals in Russia and Armenia. Dr. Aiken was selected as the inaugural recipient of the Baxter International Foundation’s William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research in 2006. In 2005, Dr. Aiken received the AcademyHealth Distinguished Investigator Award in Health Services Research for her research demonstrating the link between the adequacy of nursing and patient safety. She also won the 2003 Individual Earnest A. Codman Award from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) for her leadership utilizing performance measures to demonstrate relationships between nursing care and patient outcomes.