Peter Buerhaus, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N., is the Valere Potter Distinguished Professor of Nursing and Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Health Workforce Studies based in the Institute for Medicine and Public Health at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Prior to becoming the Center director in January 2007, Dr. Buerhaus served as the Senior Associate Dean for Research at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing from 2000 to 2006. Before coming to Vanderbilt University, Dr. Buerhaus served as assistant professor of health policy and management at Harvard School of Public Health (1 992-2000) where he developed the Harvard Nursing Research Institute and its post-doctoral program in nursing health services research. D uring the 1980s he was assistant to the chief executive officer of the University of Michigan Medical Center's seven teaching hospitals (1983-1986) and assistant to the Vice Provost for Medical Affairs, the chief executive of the medical center from 1987-1990. Dr. Buerhaus maintains an active research program involving studies on employment and earnings of nursing personnel, implications of an aging RN workforce, nurse staffing and quality of patient care, and health professionals and public opinion on issues affecting the delivery of health care. Professor Buerhaus has published over 60 peer-reviewed articles, has editorial responsibilities with many peer reviewed health services research and nursing journals, and has advised policy makers and legislators on a wide variety of nursing health policy issues. Dr. Buerhaus was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing in 1994, and elected into the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine in 2003. He is currently a member of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Systems Nursing Advisory Committee, and recently served on the National Institutes of Health National Advisory Council for Nursing Research (2001-2006), National Quality Forum Steering Committee on Nursing Quality Performance Measures (2004-2005), and as a Board of Director of Sigma Theta Tau International (2001-2005). Dr. Buerhaus earned his baccalaureate degree in nursing from Mankato State University, a master's degree in nursing health services administration from The University of Michigan, a doctoral degree from at Wayne State University, and was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation faculty fellow in health care finance at The Johns Hopkins University (1991-1992).

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