Grant comes to Emory Healthcare from the healthcare operations software company symplr, where she served as chief clinical officer. There she helped shape clinical strategy and clinician-focused innovation. She previously served as executive vice president, chief experience officer and chief nurse executive at Wellstar Health System, where she led nursing excellence, patient and team member experience and key initiatives for approximately 9,000 registered nurses. She also served as executive vice president and chief nursing officer for Beaumont Health in Detroit, MI, where she led nursing across an eight-hospital integrated system and advanced Magnet® designation and redesignation across multiple hospitals.

 

For Grant, this is a homecoming, as she previously served as chief nurse executive and chief patient services officer at Emory Healthcare from 2006 to 2015. During that time, she led nursing practice for approximately 5,000 registered nurses, helped achieve the first Magnet designation for Emory University Hospital and Magnet redesignation for Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital and was recognized nationally for her nursing leadership as Emory cared for the first U.S. patients with Ebola virus disease in 2014. Grant also previously served a year as interim dean of the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing.

 

"I am very excited and honored to return to Emory and build on its legacy of excellence, alongside the extraordinary nurses and teams who care for our patients and communities every day,” says Grant. “I look forward to advancing a culture where innovation and compassion go hand in hand, so we can continue making a real difference in the lives of the people and communities we serve."

 

Grant received a bachelor of science degree in nursing from Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, a master’s degree in psychiatry and community mental health nursing from the University of South Carolina in Columbia and a doctor of nursing practice from Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

 

Grant succeeds Sharon Pappas, PhD, RN, FAAN, in this role. Following a decade of extraordinary leadership as chief nurse executive for Emory Healthcare and more than a 40-year nursing career, Pappas will retire later this year following the transition of this role to Grant. Pappas’ influence has shaped nursing excellence across Emory Healthcare, including advancing Magnet recognition, strengthening academic nursing and fostering a culture of professional growth.