Kate FitzPatrick, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, is the EVP/Connelly Foundation Chief Nurse Executive Officer for Jefferson Health a post she has held since January of 2021. She is the first nurse to hold an endowed position at Jefferson. Dr. FitzPatrick is a Professor and Associate Dean for Nursing Academic Partnerships & Innovation at the Jefferson College of Nursing. From 2019 to 2021, Kate served as the SVP for Nursing Practice and Clinical Development for the Jefferson Health Enterprise. From 2015 to 2019 she was the Senior VP and Chief Nursing Officer at the University of Vermont Medical Center where she held a joint appointment as the Associate Dean for Academic & Practice Integration at the University of Vermont College of Nursing and Health Sciences. Prior to her role in Vermont, Dr. FitzPatrick spent 18 years at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania where she served in a variety of executive leadership roles on the Penn senior leadership team. Prior to joining Penn in 1996, she served as the State Trauma System leader for the Division of Public Health in the State of Delaware.

 

Dr. FitzPatrick is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and previously served on the Finance Committee. In 2025 she was inducted as a fellow of the American Organization of Nurse Leaders. Since 2015, she has served as a Magnet Program appraiser with the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Dr. FitzPatrick completed the Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellowship in 2017 and as part of this experience led national work on mindfulness in clinical practice. She is a Past President of the Society of Trauma Nurses and a former board member for the American Trauma Society. Dr. FitzPatrick serves on the Southeast PA advisory board for the Hospital Association of PA and is on the board of the Philadelphia American Heart Association. She is a member of the Hospital Association of PA (HAP) Pennsylvania Healthcare Talent Taskforce and is part of the HAP Nurse Ambassador group that is providing testimony to advance key health policy. In April of 2023, she was awarded the PA Grassroots Advocacy Champion Award by HAP.

 

Dr. FitzPatrick is leading innovative work across Jefferson to re-design the care delivery model and enhance the nursing workforce and nurse wellbeing. She is an advisor to the Johnson & Johnson Innovation Nurse Fellowship. She has co-led and published work on innovative approaches to inter-professional clinical leadership to advance patient care.