Dr. Ruth McDermott-Levy named director of Global Health Center

In Fall 2014, Ruth McDermott-Levy, associate professor, was named director of the College of Nursing’s Center for Global and Public Health.  Launched in 2010, the Center extends the College’s engagement in global and public health studies and research that address the health-related factors important to the quality of life in various regions of the world and among various populations in our own country.

Dr. McDermott-Levy began teaching at the College in 1996. Building on her previous clinical practice in community health, she brings to this new role research experience  with community health workers in Nicaragua, Omani international nursing students, Arab immigrants in Philadelphia and in rural communities in Pennsylvania.  Dr. McDermott-Levy has promoted health along with nursing students in Latin America and worked on the Nicaragua telehealth program, a collaborative effort of Villanova’s College of Nursing, Engineering and School of Business and National Autonomous University of Nicaragua School of Nursing, since 2009.

“I am looking forward to developing and supporting international and local public health learning and research opportunities as well as supporting existing partnerships and developing others for our students and the larger University community,” says Dr. McDermott-Levy. She earned her BSN from Wilkes University, MSN and PhD from Villanova and is a student in the master’s in public health program at University of Massachusetts-Amherst.  She will complete the requirements for the MPH degree and graduate in May 2015.

The mission of the College of Nursing’s Center for Global and Public Health is to leverage the interdisciplinary expertise, resources and scholarly endeavors of Villanova University and its partners to serve as a locus for integrative and experiential educational experiences that examine the relationships between biological, cultural, political, and socioeconomic factors that influence health and illness worldwide.