Ruby L. Wilson
Ruby L. Wilson was born in 1931 in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Reverend and Mrs. C.H. Wilson. She graduated with honors from Punxsutawney High School and Allegheny General Hospital (AGH) School of Nursing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She completed a BS in Nursing Education at the University of Pittsburgh in 1954 and served as night Clinical Instructor and Supervisor at AGH for several years.
From 1955-1957, Dr. Wilson served in the Duke University School of Nursing as an instructor in Advanced Medical-Surgical Nursing in their new BSN program. After completing her MSN in 1959 at Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case-Western University in Cleveland, Ohio, she returned to Duke. Working with her Duke nursing colleague, Thelma Ingles, she pioneered innovative nursing programs in both education and patient care, developing the first-ever Clinical Master’s Program in Nursing. She was the Developing Director for Hanes Project, a primary nurse program within the MSN curriculum in 1961, which admitted patients to a nurse as well as a physician.
In 1963, she developed and served in Duke’s first Clinical Nurse Specialist position, providing care for dialysis and kidney-transplant patients in the Division of Nephrology. She continues her faculty appointments in the School of Nursing and Medicine and receives a special appointment in the Department of Nursing Services at Duke Hospital, making her the only nurse to have a triad appointment in the Medical Center.
After completing her doctorate (Ed.D.) at Duke, she served as Visiting Professor and Consultant in Nursing with the Rockefeller Foundation at the Faculty of Ramathibodi, School of Nursing, Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand. Her role was to assist in developing educational and patient care programs in nursing and education in the new research medical center there.
In 1971, she returned again to Duke and was appointed Dean of the School of Nursing, re-establishing the graduate program of the School and assisting in retaining the School during 1978-80, a time of university retrenchment. She maintained this position until 1984, when she became Assistant to the Chancellor for Health Affairs.
As a member of professional, academic, and community organizations, Dr. Wilson has served in numerous capacities and received several honors including:
- Chancellor’s Legacy Laureate Award (University of Pittsburgh, 2011)
- North Carolina State Nurses’ Hall of Fame Inductee (2010)
- American Academy of Nursing Living Legend Award (2009)
- Duke University School of Nursing Lifetime Achievement Award (Duke University Alumni Association, 2008)
- Presidential appointee to the Federal Advisory Committee for Nursing of the United States Public Health Service
- Duke University Medal for Distinguished Meritorious Service (First woman from the Medical Center to receive, 2006)
- Elected to the American Academy of Nursing and the Institute of Medicine and (1976)
In 2007, the Ruby L. Wilson Professorship was established in her honor.
Interview
This oral history interview was conducted with Dr. Ruby Leila Wilson on September 14, 2007 by Jessica Roseberry.