Dr. Hyochol "Brian" Ahn named dean of College of Nursing
I am pleased to announce that Hyochol “Brian” Ahn, PhD, MSN, MS-CTS, MS-ECE, APRN, ANP-BC, FAAN, has accepted our offer to be our next dean of the College of Nursing. Dr. Ahn will start May 22.
Hyochol “Brian” Ahn
Dr. Ahn is a professor and Associate Dean for Research, College of Nursing and founding director, Brain Science & Symptom Management Center at Florida State University. He replaces Ki Moore, PhD, RN, FAAN, who returned to her faculty position as the Anne Furrow Endowed Professor in the college last year before retiring. Also, I want to thank Kathleen Insel, PhD, RN, professor and chair of the College of Nursing’s Behavioral Health Science Division, for her willingness to be the college’s interim dean.
Dr. Ahn is a Fellow, American Academy of Nursing, national advisory board member of the American Academy of Nursing’s Edge Runners National Advisory Council; National Commission Research Workgroup member of the American Nurses Association’s National Commission to Address Racism in Nursing and a consultant, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
As the associate dean for research at FSU’s College of Nursing, Dr. Ahn led the research agenda for the college, promoting innovative approaches for faculty and student scholarship. As the founding director of the FSU Brain Science and Symptom Management Center, he managed the administrative and financial needs of the center, engaging with donors around key initiatives. Before joining the FSU college, he was the assistant dean for research at the University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHealth) School of Nursing and the Isla Carroll Turner Endowed Chair in Gerontological Nursing at UTHealth School of Nursing.
Dr. Ahn received his PhD in Nursing from the University of Florida in 2012, MSN in adult and elderly nursing and BSN from Florida. He also holds a master’s in electrical and computer engineering from Florida and a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from the University of Seoul, College of Engineering. Dr. Ahn was a visiting fellow at the Harvard-MIT MGH/HST Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging in Charlestown, Mass.
A first-generation Asian-American, Dr. Ahn was also an external advisory board member of the NIH P30-funded Rutgers Asian Resource Center for Minority Aging Research and a Gerontological Society of America’s Minority Issues in Gerontology Committee Scholarship Awardee.
Please join me in welcoming Dr. Ahn to the Health Sciences leadership team. I look forward to his leadership of one of our founding colleges. He has been handed a college with a bright future thanks to the service leadership of Dr. Insel.
With Dr. Insel’s leadership, the College of Nursing hired Julienne Rutherford for the John and Nell Mitchell Endowed Chair, hired four new assistant professors, moved the Master of Science in Nursing – Entry to the Profession program from the Phoenix Bioscience Core to the new Gilbert facility and increased the college’s Blue Ridge ranking six spots to No. 23 in the nation.
Because of Dr. Insel’s commitment to service and the collaboration of her team across the college, our nursing students are given the best start to their career possible. More than $900,000 in scholarships were awarded in 2022-2023. The Arizona Department of Health Services awarded $9.2 million to increase MEPN enrollment and $1.3 million from the Halle Foundation helped students from rural and underserved communities. This is on top of the $1.25 million per year for three years from the Arizona Board of Regents to expand capacity at the college.
Thank you, Dr. Insel. You have created a lasting legacy for the college and for the new dean.
Michael D. Dake, MD
Senior Vice President for University of Arizona Health Sciences