Executive Chief Nursing Officer Marilyn Dubree, MSN, RN, NE-BC, was honored at a reception on June 27 for her years of service promoting excellence in nursing practice. The event at Langford Auditorium brought together past and present colleagues throughout Vanderbilt to toast her incredible career.
“In Marilyn Dubree’s more than 45 years of service, she has devoted her life’s work to promoting excellence in nursing practice at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and beyond,” said C. Wright Pinson, MBA, MD, Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Health System Officer. “Her dedication to the institution will live on. She has generously given to support a new endowed directorship, the first of its kind to be dedicated to nursing leadership.”
Pinson then announced that in recognition of Dubree’s generosity and legacy of service, VUMC will immediately activate the Marilyn Dubree Chief Nursing Officer Directorship.
“The Marilyn Dubree Chief Nursing Officer Directorship will support future nurse leaders who, like Dubree, make important contributions to the practice of nursing and provide life-changing care for our patients,” Pinson said. “This endowment will also have a lasting, significant impact on nursing priorities such as continuing education and leadership development.”
Dubree retired from her responsibilities as Executive Chief Nursing Officer on July 1 but will remain with VUMC in a part-time role. She is succeeded by Karen Keady, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, formerly vice president and chief nurse executive with the University of Rochester Medical Center, who assumes the role of VUMC System Chief Nursing Officer.
Since arriving at VUMC in 1976, Dubree has risen through the ranks from clinical nurse specialist and nursing instructor to executive chief nursing officer, a title she held beginning in 2007. Prior to that, from 1994-2007, she was chief nursing officer of Vanderbilt Hospitals and Clinics.
Dubree has overseen the tremendous growth of VUMC’s nursing team, which has expanded to more than 9,000 nurses on the main campus, the three community hospitals and outpatient clinics throughout Tennessee and in surrounding states. Her accomplishments over the years have been many, both at VUMC and in the community.
“It really was an extraordinary partnership,” said Paul Sternberg Jr., MD, former chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and director of the Vanderbilt Eye Institute. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for Vanderbilt and for being such a wonderful colleague and friend for our years working together.”
Over the years, Dubree has become known for her boundless energy, approachability, devotion to the needs of nurses, and her emphasis on patient- and-family-centered care. She particularly values relationships and works to know people on a personal level.
“Marilyn has many gifts,” said David Raiford, MD, former Chief of Staff for VUMC. “One gift is she demonstrates concern. She can help a person by being a careful listener, trying to figure out what they’re trying to think and say and do before they figure it out on their own. That’s a rare gift, and it’s presented in a way where the person who accepts that gift is enlightened and made better by that.”
A recorded presentation showed Dubree’s team of chief nursing officers, representing Vanderbilt Health’s system of hospitals and clinics, surprising her days earlier with the DAISY Lifetime Achievement Award. The award was created to recognize those nurses who have devoted their life’s work to the compassionate care of others. Recipients of this award are nominated for their dedication to nursing through active mentoring, role modeling, advocating for their patients and promoting the positive image of nursing.
Dubree shared the credit for her accomplishments with her colleagues.
“This room is filled with people that I love and people that I have had the privilege to partner with for so many years,” Dubree said. “I am grateful to all of you for what you do for Nursing, and, most importantly, what we do for patients and their families and our communities every day.”
