Search People Result | Academic Influence

Find the most influential people in 24 academic disciplines and numerous subdisciplines

Find famous and important people related to your research. This is an excellent tool for research papers, topic papers, and building a bibliography. Using our influence-based algorithm, our rankings synthesize data from Wikipedia, Wikidata, Semantic Scholar, and CrossRef.

Students and researchers now have a fast and reliable way to find influential thinkers from 24 disciplines and 300 sub-disciplines (and growing). If you want to find history’s most influential philsosophers, or the world’s most influential mathematicians currently, now you can.

We also provide custom rankings of people by discipline as well as interviews with influential academics who are currently active.

To use this tool, select the discipline (and optional subdiscipline) relevant to your research, and specify influential academics by history, world, or US. Even results that are counterintuitive are often enlightening (our algorithm always picks up a signal).

Methodology: How and Why We Rank by Influence …

See additional learning tools, study tips, features on campus life and much more at our Student Resources Headquarters.

Search Influential People

Person Name

School

Gender

Country

Discipline

Subdiscipline

Ranking

List of the most influential female people in Nursing,

#151

Toni Hoffman

#50915

Overall Influence

1957 - Present (67 years)

Toni Ellen Hoffman is a senior nurse who was made a Member of the Order of Australia and awarded the 2006 Australian of the Year Local Hero Award. She took on the role of whistleblower in informing Queensland Politician Rob Messenger about Jayant Patel, a surgeon who was the subject of the Morris Inquiry and later the Davies Commission. She originally began to raise doubts about the ability of Patel with hospital management and other staff. Both doctors and surgeons who were familiar with his work had also been deeply concerned.

#152

Mary Ellen Smith Glasgow

#128183

Overall Influence

Mary Ellen Smith Glasgow is an American nurse, academic, author and researcher. She is a dean of school of nursing, vice provost for research and a professor at Duquesne University. Glasgow has authored over 100 articles and book chapters. She is the co-author of four books, including Legal and Ethical Issues in Nursing Education: An Essential Guide, DNP Role Development for Doctoral Advanced Nursing Practice, and Legal Issues Confronting Today's Nursing Faculty: A Case-Study Approach. She has received the American Journal of Nursing Book-of-the-Year Award for her two of these books.

#153

Janie Mason

#182428

Overall Influence

1941 - Present (83 years)

Elizabeth Anne Mason is a nurse, educator and curator who has worked in the Northern Territory of Australia for most of her adult life. Education Mason trained for her general nursing training at Prince Henry’s Hospital Melbourne and midwifery at Queen Victoria Hospital Melbourne. She came to the Territory in 1964 with her husband Jon and worked as the nurse at Batchelor. This was followed by midwifery at Darwin Hospital and five years on Gove Peninsula. Immediately following Cyclone Tracy she earned a third certificate in infant health nursing at Tresillian Sydney.

#154

Karen Cox

#129049

Overall Influence

Karen Cox is a British Registered Nurse and academic. She is currently the Vice Chancellor of University of Kent. She was a Professor of Cancer and Palliative Care, and Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nottingham. She was one of the main drivers behind the 'Project Transform' there, which was highly controversial and led to a public apology of the university to its staff. Since 1 August 2017, she has served as the sixth Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kent.

#155

Linda Norman

#182259

Overall Influence

Linda Norman is an American nurse and academic administrator. Norman completed bachelor's and master's degrees in nursing at the University of Virginia, followed by a doctor of nursing science at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Prior to succeeding Colleen Conway-Welch as dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing in 2013, she had spent 22 years at Vanderbilt University, where she taught as Valere Potter Menefee Professor of Nursing. In 2021, she stepped down as dean of Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, and on July 1, 2021, was named Dean Emerita, Vanderbilt University ...

#156

Ruth Northway

#178358

Overall Influence

1961 - Present (63 years)

Ruth Northway is a British nurse and nursing academic specialising in learning disabilities. She is a professor of learning disability nursing at the University of South Wales. Biography Northway, who is from Llantrisant in Mid Glamorgan, Wales, was born in 1961 and educated at Teignmouth Grammar School. She decided to become a nurse because she "enjoyed working with people with learning disabilities and this was the best way that [she] could do it", and subsequently spent some time as a learning disability nurse. In 1989, she started going into nurse education. In 1994, she graduated from t...

#157

Erla Kolbrún Svavarsdóttir

#186497

Overall Influence

Erla Kolbrún Svavarsdóttir is a Professor in the School of Health Sciences within the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Iceland and Director of the family nursing section in a connected position at Landspítali University Hospital. Erla Kolbrún has for decades placed an emphasis on development of teaching in family nursing, in addition to developing and testing measuring instruments and therapeutic research in the field of family nursing and researching violence in intimate relationships and adaptation of individuals and family members to acute or long-term physical and mental illnesses/...

#158

Adejoke Ayoola

#183310

Overall Influence

1953 - Present (71 years)

Adejoke Bolanle Ayoola is a Nigerian-American academic and nursing researcher at Calvin University. Education Adejoke studied at Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Nigeria, earning BSN and MSN degrees in 1991 and 1998 respectively. She moved to the United States in 2001 to further her education, earning a Ph.D. from Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, in 2007.

#159

Terryann Clark

#169180

Overall Influence

Terryann Coralie Clark, known as TC, is a New Zealand Māori nursing academic, and as of 2023 is a full professor at the University of Auckland, specialising in Māori health, adolescent wellbeing and mental and sexual health.

#160

Cynthia Barnes-Boyd

#140040

Overall Influence

1953 - 2017 (64 years)

Cynthia "Cee" Barnes-Boyd was an American academic administrator, professor, and nurse. She was the director of the Office of Community Engagement and Neighborhood Health Partnerships at the University of Illinois Chicago , and executive director of the University of Illinois Mile Square Health Center. She was a clinical associate professor of community health at the UIC College of Nursing, and a clinical associate professor of community health sciences at the UIC School of Public Health.

#161

Marianne Mathewson-Chapman

#185857

Overall Influence

Marianne Mathewson-Chapman is a career nurse and retired major general in the United States Army National Guard. She was the first female to be promoted to the rank of major general in the Army National Guard.

#162

Sheridan Miyamoto

#186949

Overall Influence

Sheridan Whalen Miyamoto is an American forensic nurse practitioner and researcher. She is an associate professor at Pennsylvania State University. In August 2020, Miyamoto was inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.

#163

Bridgette Brawner

#177046

Overall Influence

Bridgette M. Rice is a nurse researcher and professor at Villanova University's M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing where she is the Richard and Marianne Kreider Endowed Professor in Nursing for Vulnerable Populations. She is known for her work on interventions to promote health equity in marginalized populations, with particular emphasis on HIV/STI prevention, mental health promotion, and mitigating negative neighborhood-level influences on health and well-being.

#164

Jennie R. Joe

#85281

Overall Influence

1941 - Present (83 years)

Jennie R. Joe (born 1941) is an American academic, medical anthropologist, and fellow of the Society for Applied Anthropology. Initially trained as a nurse, she was one of the health clinic workers during Occupation of Alcatraz in 1969. She is a professor in the Departments of Family and Community Medicine and American Indian Studies at the University of Arizona. Joe was one of the inaugural board members for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian and serves on the board of the Urban Indian Health Commission. She graduated from the University of New Mexico as a public health ...

#165

Maureen Markle-Reid

#192001

Overall Influence

Maureen Francis Markle-Reid is a Canadian nurse. As a Full professor in the McMaster School of Nursing and Tier 2 Canada Research Chair, she oversaw numerous efforts to improve the quality of life for seniors moving from hospitals to home.

#166

Anna D. Wolf

1890 - 1985 (95 years)

Anna Dryden Wolf was an American nurse who served as the first dean of the Peking Union Medical College School of Nursing in Beijing, China, and later as the director of the school of nursing and nursing services at Johns Hopkins University. Her dedication to higher-level nursing education has been credited with laying the groundwork for the foundation of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing in 1984.

#167

Patricia M. Davidson

Patricia M. Davidson is an Australian nursing educator and Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Wollongong. She is best known for her contributions improving cardiac nursing and transitional care with a focus on under served populations in a global context, and for her leadership in higher education.

#168

Margaret Arnstein

1904 - 1972 (68 years)

Margaret G. Arnstein was an American health expert who focused her efforts in nursing and public health. Throughout her life Arnstein worked for the United States public health sector and several American colleges, eventually becoming dean of the Yale School of Nursing in 1967. Arnstein also published multiple academic papers discussing nursing practices within the U.S health system of the time. Arnstein also participated in Congress discussions in relation to provisions given to the health sector by the state through the Second Supplemental Appropriation Bill of 1957. In her later career Mar...

#169

Annie Warburton Goodrich

Annie Warburton Goodrich

1866 - 1954 (88 years)

Annie Warburton Goodrich was an American nurse and academic. She was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and grew up in Hartford, Connecticut. Her grandfather was John S. Butler. She entered the New York Hospital Training School for Nurses in 1890 and graduated in 1892 then worked there after she graduated before working at St. Luke's Hospital. In 1902, she became Superintendent of Nursing at New York Hospital and in 1907, General Superintendent at Bellevue Hospital. She was an assistant professor of hospital economics in the Teacher's College at Columbia University from 1904. By 1917 she ...

#170

Ernestine Wiedenbach

1900 - 1998 (98 years)

Ernestine Wiedenbach was a nursing theorist. Her family emigrated to New York in 1909, where she later received a B.A. from Wellesley College in 1922, an R.N. from Johns Hopkins School of Nursing in 1925, an M.A. from Teachers College, Columbia University in 1934, and a certificate in nurse-midwifery from the Maternity Center Association School for Nurse-Midwives in New York in 1946.

#171

Bertha Harmer

1885 - 1934 (49 years)

Bertha Harmer was a Canadian nurse, writer and educator, known for writing the textbook Textbook of the Principles and Practice of Nursing. Harmer was born in Port Hope, Ontario, the daughter of a railway carpenter. After finishing high school and working for several years, she earned a nursing degree from the Toronto General Hospital in 1913, and a bachelor's degree in administration and teaching from Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City in 1915.

#172

Mary Adelaide Nutting

Mary Adelaide Nutting

1858 - 1948 (90 years)

Mary Adelaide Nutting was a Canadian nurse, educator, and pioneer in the field of hospital care. After graduating from Johns Hopkins University's first nurse training program in 1891, Nutting helped to found a modern nursing program at the school. In 1907, she became involved in an experimental program at the new Teachers College at Columbia University. Ascending to the role of chair of the nursing and health department, Nutting authored a vanguard curriculum based on preparatory nursing education, public health studies, and social service emphasis. She served as president of a variety of cou...

#173

Estelle Massey Osborne

Estelle Massey Osborne

1901 - 1981 (80 years)

Estelle Massey Riddle Osborne was an African American nurse and educator. She served in many prominent positions and worked to eliminate racial discrimination in the nursing field. Early life and education Estelle Massey was born in Palestine, Texas in 1901, the eighth of eleven children. Despite being uneducated and working in menial jobs, her parents, Hall and Bettye Estelle Massey, sent all of their children to college.

#174

May Shiga Hornback

1924 - 1976 (52 years)

May Shiga Hornback was an American nurse and nursing educator at the University of Wisconsin for twenty years . She was a pioneer in the use of technology to deliver nursing instruction. Life and career May Shiga was born on May 4, 1924, in Seattle. A nisei, she was the daughter and youngest of five children of Japanese immigrants Henry Juro Shiga, the owner of a knit garments factory, and Sumi Hirano Shiga. She graduated from Garfield High School in 1941 and began studying nursing at Seattle University. After the US began its war with Japan, Shiga's father was incarcerated at the Fort Li...

#175

Elizabeth Bixler Torrey

1899 - 1976 (77 years)

Elizabeth Bixler Torrey was an American nurse who spent much of her career working to improve accreditation standards for American schools of nursing. Biography On October 29, 1899 Elizabeth Seelye Bixler was born to Mabel Seelye Bixler and James Wilson Bixler in New London, Connecticut.

#176

Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale

1820 - 1910 (90 years)

Florence Nightingale was an English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War, in which she organised care for wounded soldiers at Constantinople. She significantly reduced death rates by improving hygiene and living standards. Nightingale gave nursing a favourable reputation and became an icon of Victorian culture, especially in the persona of "The Lady with the Lamp" making rounds of wounded soldiers at night.

#177

Virginia Henderson

1897 - 1996 (99 years)

Virginia Avenel Henderson was an American nurse, researcher, theorist, and writer. Henderson is famous for a definition of nursing: "The unique function of the nurse is to assist the individual, sick or well, in the performance of those activities contributing to health or its recovery that he would perform unaided if he had the necessary strength, will or knowledge" . She is known as "the first lady of nursing" and has been called, "arguably the most famous nurse of the 20th century" and "the quintessential nurse of the twentieth century". In a 1996 article in the Journal of Advanced Nursin...

#178

Linda Richards

1841 - 1930 (89 years)

Linda Richards was the first professionally trained American nurse. She established nursing training programs in the United States and Japan, and created the first system for keeping individual medical records for hospitalized patients.

#179

Lillian Wald

1867 - 1940 (73 years)

Lillian D. Wald was an American nurse, humanitarian and author. She strove for human rights and started American community nursing. She founded the Henry Street Settlement in New York City and was an early advocate for nurses in public schools.

#180

Isabel Hampton Robb

Isabel Hampton Robb

1860 - 1910 (50 years)

Isabel Adams Hampton Robb was an American nurse theorist, author, nursing school administrator and early leader. Hampton was the first Superintendent of Nurses at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, wrote several influential textbooks, and helped to found the organizations that became known as the National League for Nursing, the International Council of Nurses, and the American Nurses Association. Hampton also played a large role in advancing the social status of nursing through her work in developing a curriculum of more advanced training during her time at the Johns Hopkins School of Nurs...

#181

Anna Maxwell

1851 - 1929 (78 years)

Anna Caroline Maxwell , was a nurse who came to be known as "the American Florence Nightingale". Her pioneering activities were crucial to the growth of professional nursing in the United States. Early years Maxwell was born in Bristol, New York on March 14, 1851. Her father was a Scottish emigrant, clergyman John Eglinton Maxwell, and her mother was an American-born woman of English descent, Diantha Caroline Maxwell. The family moved to Canada for some of Maxwell's childhood, returning in 1874. That year, she began nursing without formal training, as an assistant matron at New England Hospital.

#182

Louise McManus

1896 - 1993 (97 years)

Louise McManus was the first nurse to earn a Ph.D. She established schools of nursing in college and helped to develop nationally standardized methods for nursing licensure in the United States. Education Louise McManus earned her nursing degree at the Massachusetts General Hospital School of Nursing in 1921. She completed bachelor's , master's and doctoral degrees at Columbia University's Teachers College, where she earned a PhD in educational research, becoming the first nurse to acquire a PhD.

#183

M. Elizabeth Shellabarger

M. Elizabeth Shellabarger

1879 - 1967 (88 years)

Mary Elizabeth Shellabarger was a Registered Nurse, army nurse overseas during World War I, and director of American Red Cross Nursing Service in Albania and Montenegro. Early life M. Elizabeth Shellabarger was born in Moffat, Colorado, on October 16, 1879, the daughter of Adam Shellabarger and Abigal "Abbie" Wales, Colorado pioneers. The other children were: Charles Walter , Ralph Wales , Emma Irene , Clara Ethel "Dolly" , Gertrude Eloise .

#184

Florence Blake

1907 - 1983 (76 years)

Florence Guinness Blake was an American nurse, professor and writer who made significant contributions to pediatric nursing and to family-centered nursing care. Blake wrote her classic text, The Child, His Parents and the Nurse, in 1954. She co-authored two other pediatric nursing textbooks, Essentials of Pediatric Nursing and Nursing Care of Children. She was on the nursing faculty at several American universities. She was posthumously honored with induction into the American Nurses Association Hall of Fame.

#185

Louie Croft Boyd

1871 - 1951 (80 years)

Louie Croft Boyd was an American nurse, hospital superintendent of nurses, nursing instructor, and writer. As a lobbyist for the newly formed Colorado State Trained Nurses Association, she advocated for legislation to regulate the licensing of nurses in Colorado. Upon passage of the bill in 1905, she applied for and became the first licensed nurse in the state. She was posthumously inducted into the Colorado Nurses Association Hall of Fame and the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2004.

#186

Alma Elizabeth Gault

1891 - 1981 (90 years)

Alma Elizabeth Gault was an American nurse administrator. Gault successfully advocated for African American nurses and their educational institutions to be integrated into professional nursing associations. Under her leadership, Meharry Medical College School of Nursing, in Nashville, Tennessee, was the first segregated black nursing school to attain membership in the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Nursing. For her achievement's Gault was inducted into the American Nurses Association Hall of Fame in 1984.

#187

Elsie Stephenson

1916 - 1967 (51 years)

Elsie Stephenson was the first Director of the Nursing Studies Unit at the University of Edinburgh, which was founded in 1956 as the first university department of Nursing in the UK. Early life Stephenson was the daughter of a farmer, Henry Walker Stephenson, and Ethel Watson, and was born at Crawleas Farm, Merrington, in Bishop Auckland, County Durham. Her father's death in 1919 in the influenza epidemic has been cited as her motivation for becoming a nurse.

#188

Martha M. Russell

Martha M. Russell

1867 - 1961 (94 years)

Martha Montague Russell was an American nurse in World War I. She was one of the first six American nurses to receive the Florence Nightingale Medal when it was awarded by the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1920.

#189

Hulda Margaret Lyttle

1889 - 1983 (94 years)

Hulda Margaret Lyttle Frazier was an American nurse educator and hospital administrator who spent most of her career in Nashville, Tennessee at Meharry Medical College School of Nursing and affiliated Hubbard Hospital. Lyttle advocated for the modernization and professionalization of African American nurses' training programs, and improved practice standards in hospitals that served African Americans.

#190

Mary Seacole

1805 - 1881 (76 years)

Mary Jane Seacole was a British nurse and businesswoman. Seacole was born to a Creole mother who ran a boarding house and had herbalist skills as a "doctress". In 1990, Seacole was awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit. In 2004, she was voted the greatest black Briton in a survey conducted in 2003 by the black heritage website Every Generation.

Image Attributions