Preparing the next generation of nurse leaders in education, science, and practice: Lessons from four Robert Wood Johnson Foundation programs

Recent articles have described the challenges in developing nurse leaders to advance nursing science, improve health, healthcare, and health equity, and build the next generation of nurses. Over the past 25 years, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has implemented many programs to develop nurse leaders to address these challenges. This article shares lessons learned from four RWJF programs and how the authors recommend those lessons can be applied today. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has supported nursing leadership development for over fifty years. Discussion of four RWJF nursing programs including the Executive Nurse Fellows (1998–2017); the New Jersey Nursing Initiative (2009–2016); the Nurse Faculty Scholars (2007–2017) and the Future of Nursing Scholars (2013–2023) is used to highlight strategies and lessons learned. Key lessons for developing the next generation of nurse leaders and strengthening the nurse leader pipeline include the importance of continuing leadership development over the course of one’s career; accelerating the nursing PhD to faculty pipeline; strong intentional mentoring; and building supportive communities to ensure long term impact. While these program examples had purposeful philanthropic funding, the lessons can also be implemented by building partnerships with federal agencies, philanthropy, and universities. •Four recent Robert Wood Johnson Foundation nurse leader programs: Executive Nurse Fellows, New Jersey Nursing Initiative, Nurse Faculty Scholars, and the Future of Nursing Scholars demonstrate strategies to strengthen the nurse leader and nurse faculty pipelines.•Strategies include the importance of continuing leadership development over one’s career, accelerating the nursing PhD to faculty pipeline, intentional mentoring, and building long-term supportive leadership communities•The strategies can be used by nursing education, policy makers, private and federal funders, and professional organizations to ensure that the United States has the strong nursing leadership, faculty, and workforce needed to meet the health, health equity, and healthcare challenges now and in the future.