John A. Nelson Appointed to the François-Xavier Bagnoud Chair in Community and Family-Centered Care

The Rutgers University Board of Governors has appointed John A. Nelson to the François-Xavier Bagnoud Chair in Community and Family-Centered Care at the School of Nursing within Rutgers Health.

Nelson is nationally recognized for his leadership in providing and advancing comprehensive care for those living with, affected by, or at risk of HIV.

Nelson is the first to serve in the newly renamed professorship, which was previously known as the François-Xavier Bagnoud Chair in Community Pediatric Nursing. The board revised the title to emphasize the university’s commitment to the betterment of the community it serves. The renaming of the professorship and Nelson’s appointment were finalized Thursday.

“I am thrilled that Dr. John Nelson has been appointed to this important professorship," said Linda Flynn, dean and professor at the School of Nursing. "John works tirelessly to improve the health and well-being of our nation’s most vulnerable residents and families, and he is very deserving of this prestigious honor.”

Nelson has provided health care to adolescents and young adults in various settings, including a community-based youth program, mobile health care vans and high school clinics. He is the director of national training at the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center, which opened in 1987 in Newark to improve the health of vulnerable members of the community.

Nelson has served on the editorial advisory board of the Annals of LGBTQ Public and Population Health and many expert panels. He is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing—one of the profession’s highest distinctions—and has received the Excellence in Research Award from the New Jersey Health Foundation.

He earned his master of science degree in nursing from Yale University and his doctor of philosophy degree in nursing from New York University.