Ruth Ludwick, Ph.D., RN-BC, APRN-CNS, FAAN, is professor emerita, Kent State University College of Nursing; adjunct graduate faculty at Northeast Ohio Medical University; and adjunct professor in the Marian K. Shaughnessy Nurse Leadership Academy at Case Western Reserve University.
*She is a research, education, and policy consultant locally, nationally, and internationally. As a co-editor and co-author of the award-winning Nurses Making Policy: From Bedside to Boardroom, she and her colleagues have established and donated all royalties to the American Nurses Foundation Washington Policy Fellowship Fund to support nurse policy work. https://ebiz.nursingworld.org/anfdonation
*As a leader, Dr. Ludwick transformed the standards of nursing care for older people and the gerontological preparation of nurses. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and a member of its Aging Expert Panel. She has a sustained research record and was awarded Research in Nursing Excellence Award by the Ohio Nurses Association.
* Her numerous publications focus on challenging and significant gerontological nursing issues such as restraint reduction, health literacy, and advance care planning. Her funding includes grants from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the National Institute on Aging, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the National Palliative Care Research Center.
*She was a founding editorial board of the Online Journal of Issues in Nursing (OJIN) and the International Journal of Older People Nursing and continues in these editorial roles today. Her contributions to OJIN include dialogue about nursing issues beyond the United States and the inauguration of a feature column on ethics for the journal. Ludwick has authored more than 100 articles, book chapters, editorials, and compilations that appear in a variety of renowned journals, such as Nursing Research, American Journal of Nursing, The Gerontologist, the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, Nursing Ethics, and the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management.
*Dr. Ludwick was the first recipient of the Kent State University College of Nursing Distinguished Alumni Award and the College’s first Director of International Affairs. Samples of her advocacy include serving on local, state, and national committee associations like the American Nurses Association, the Ohio Nurses Association, and her county League of Women Voters. In addition, she is a current and founding member of the board of Ohio Health Literacy Partners (OHLP), a statewide collaboration empowering Ohioans to make informed health choices through improved health literacy.
