Ramón Lavandero, MSN, MA, FAAN, is Senior Strategic Advisor and Organizational Historian for the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN Critical Care).

AACN Critical Care is the world’s largest specialty nursing organization with over 133,000 individual members. In this role, he advises association leaders on a wide range of far-reaching initiatives and is charged with establishing the association’s historical archives in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing. This archival initiative will provide evergreen organizational guidance and insight into improving and innovating health care delivery.

During the course of Mr. Lavandero’s tenure at AACN, which includes more than two decades on the executive team, he has led various aspects of the association's work including external affairs, strategic alliances, publishing, health policy, member recognition and communications. His remarkable career has helped transform the profession, particularly with respect to nurses in clinical and care settings. Throughout his career, Mr. Lavandero has focused on acute and critical care, having held clinical, academic and administrative roles in several U.S. academic healthcare institutions.

Mr. Lavandero’s commitment to quality and safety at the organizational level is best demonstrated by his participation in developing the AACN’s Standards for Establishing and Sustaining Healthy Work Environments. Not only do the standards  lay the foundation for a healthier work environment for nurses, they also blazed the trail for how the relationship between a healthy work environment and improved patient outcomes would be studied in the future. He has been co-investigator of four national studies about critical care work environments and a study of empowerment and specialty certification for nurses.

As the founding director of Sigma’s International Leadership Institute, Mr. Lavandero demonstrated his commitment to developing nurse leaders who can drive further impact in their communities. His contributions have not only bettered the delivery of care and the profession’s position within their communities and in global health care. In this role, he has consulted with nurses and health ministry officials in the United States, Latin America and the former Soviet Union.

Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Mr. Lavandero was the only nurse selected for the inaugural cohort of the Hispanic Leadership Fellows program sponsored by the New Jersey Department of Higher Education, Woodrow Wilson Foundation and the American Council on Education. 

Mr. Lavandero received a bachelor’s degree as the first man to graduate from Columbia University School of Nursing (CUSON). He earned a master’s degree in adult education from Columbia University Teacher’s College and a master’s degree in nursing from Yale University School of Nursing (YSN). Mr. Lavandero was inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (Academy) in 2004. Since induction, he served two terms on the Academy’s Board of Directors and on many committees and taskforces that continue to shape the organization. His numerous honors include YSN’s 90 Nurses for 90 Years and the Distinguished Alumni/ae Award and the Indiana University School of Nursing Vicki Champion Boundary Spanning Award. He also received the CUSON Distinguished Alumni award, was inducted into the TC Nursing Education Hall of Fame, and received the TC Award for Outstanding Achievement in Practice. A past president of YSN’s Alumni Association, he served two terms on the Dean’s External Advisory Board.

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