Dr. Leo-Felix Jurado

Dr. Jurado comes to Commonwealth University after completing his tenure as a professor and the chairperson of the Department of Nursing at William Paterson University in Wayne, NJ. There he led the nursing department in developing RN-BSN and MSN programs online in addition to the existing on-ground programs. The result of this curricular initiative more than tripled the student population in the nursing department from 600 to 1800 students in just about 18 months. The nursing department at WPUNJ now boasts 20% of the entire student population at the university and is positioned to be the largest nursing school in New Jersey.
 
In his career, Dr. Jurado has held prominent positions in several professional organizations and educational institutions. He is a past president of the New Jersey Board of Nursing where he served as a Board Member for ten years; a past president of the Philippine Nurses Association of New Jersey (PNANJ); and a past president of the Philippine Nurses Association of America (PNAA) where he established a peer-reviewed journal, created a forum for advanced-practice nurses and founded a village in the Philippines providing homes for the impoverished. 
 
He served as the PNAA Parliamentarian for six years and is the PNAA Executive Director (as of Aug, 2022). He was the editor of the Journal of Nursing Practice Applications & Reviews of Research (JNPARR) and currently the Associate Editor. 

His research agenda includes foreign-educated nurses and men in nursing. He has spoken at local, regional, national and global conferences (in all the six continents of the world) regarding his program of research and other topics germane to nursing education, leadership and diversity. He has received several distinguished awards in nursing education and research, health care, community leadership and mentorship. He is a certified nurse educator (CNE), nurse executive (NE-BC), an advanced practice nurse (APN) in adult health, and a distance educator.
 
Dr. Jurado is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing where less than 1% of the 4 million nurses in the US have been inducted. He was chosen for this remarkable honor based on his outstanding contributions to nursing and health care, including his influence on health care policies.