International nursing expert joins ICN to oversee transition of Nursing Now campaign into ICN’s core work

The International Council of Nurses (ICN) is pleased to announce that Susan Williams will be joining its staff to oversee the transition and integration of the highly successful Nursing Now campaign into ICN’s mainstream work.

Nursing Now, which is run in collaboration with ICN and the World Health Organization (WHO), is a three-year campaign set up in 2018 to improve health by raising the profile and status of nursing worldwide. It is co-chaired by Lord Nigel Crisp, co-chair of the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Health, and Professor Sheila Tlou, co-Chair of the Global HIV Prevention Coalition.

Nursing Now focuses on giving nurses a more prominent voice in health policy-making, encouraging greater investment in the nursing workforce, recruiting more nurses into leadership positions, conducting research that helps determine where nurses can have the greatest impact, and sharing best nursing practices.

Ms Williams said she is excited to be working with the international nursing community again.

“This is a pivotal time for nursing, not only because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also because 2020 is the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife. The Nursing Now campaign has generated huge interest in the profession and beyond, and we want to ensure that we capture all of its good work and the networks that have been created, so that in the long term, nursing will get the recognition, reward and development it so deserves.”

ICN Chief Executive Officer Howard Catton said:

“Nursing Now has been a phenomenally successful campaign which has raised the profile of nursing at the grassroots level all over the world, and we are committed to ensuring its legacy lives long at ICN. I am delighted that Susan will be joining us to become the focal point for bringing much of Nursing Now’s work within ICN.

‘Susan has a long and proven track record of enabling and encouraging international nursing organisations to work together seamlessly and productively, and I am sure her commitment and dedication to nursing will prove to be a great asset to ICN as we move forward from this tumultuous year into whatever the future will bring.”

Ms Williams, who previously worked for the United Kingdom Royal College of Nursing for 25 years, most recently as its Senior International Manager, will work part-time on a one-year contract. She is a qualified teacher who speaks German, French and Turkish, and has previously worked in local government and with numerous international organisations.

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