Dr. Parse is the founder and current editor of Nursing Science Quarterly (NSQ), as well as President of Discovery International. As NSQ editor, she has spearheaded a well-known, highly-cited venue for nurse scholars to share and to debate matters essential to nursing inquiry and theory development. She is also the founder of the Institute of Humanbecoming, where each summer she engages in teaching-learning with those interested in the humanbecoming paradigm and all of the six models derived from the theory. 

 

Throughout her career, Dr. Parse has made outstanding contributions to the discipline and profession of nursing through her progressive leadership in nursing knowledge development, research, education, and practice. She has explored the ethics of human dignity, set forth in her humanbecoming paradigm, created tenets of human dignity, and developed teaching-learning, mentoring, leading-following, community, family, and concept-inventing models that are used worldwide. Dr. Parse’s theory of humanbecoming has been cited over 1,500 times. She has published 11 books and has written over 250 articles and editorials. 

 

Dr. Parse’s theory has had a global impact. She has shaped over 100 health policies related to patient-centered care in large health care organizations, including at the University Health Network, which serves over 1 million patients per year, and at Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre which serves over 1.3 million patients per year. Dr. Parse’s theory has also served as the basis for policy and rule-making for the South Dakota State Board of Nursing. Her theory on humanbecoming has guided the development of patient-centered medical homes (PCMH) in more than ten National Committee for Quality Assurance PCMH recognized Federally Qualified Health Centers across five counties in Indiana. Dr. Parse’s theory was used to create health policies and emphasize nursing’s role in consistent, safe, quality primary care for other PCMHs that support quality and accessibility through organizations such as the National Association of Community Health Centers, the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved, and the National Health Care for the Homeless Council. 

 

Dr. Parse is a sought-after speaker who has shared her knowledge in more than 300 local, national, and international presentations and workshops in more than 35 countries on 5 continents. Her works have been translated into many languages and she regularly consults throughout the world. Dr. Parse has planned and implemented many international conferences on nursing theory and nursing science.

 

Dr. Parse received her BSN at Duquesne University School of Nursing, where she later served as Dean, and received her master’s and doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing (Pitt). Dr. Parse has held several academic leadership roles at various nursing schools throughout the years including Pitt, Hunter College, Loyola University Chicago, and New York University. She was inducted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing (Academy) in 1989 and served as the first chair of the Academy’s Nursing Theory-Guided Practice Expert Panel. Dr. Parse has received many  honors including Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Midwest Nursing Research Society and the Asian American Pacific Islander Nurses Association.