Bernadette Mazurek Melnyk, PhD, CPNP/PMHNP, FAANP, FNAP, FAAN, earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from West Virginia University, her Master of Science degree with a specialization in nursing care of children and pediatric nurse practitioner from the University of Pittsburgh and her PhD in clinical research from the University of Rochester where she also completed her post-master’s certificate as a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner. She is a nationally/internationally recognized expert in evidence-based practice, intervention research, child and adolescent mental health, and health and wellness, and is a frequent keynote speaker at national and international conferences on these topics.

Melnyk has led the EBP movement in nursing for the last two decades and consulted with hundreds of healthcare systems and colleges throughout the nation and globe on how to improve quality of care and patient outcomes through implementing and sustaining evidence-based practice. Her record includes over $33 million of sponsored funding from federal agencies and foundations as principal investigator and over 400 publications. She is co-editor of seven books, including Evidence-based Practice in Nursing & Healthcare: A Guide to Best Practice (4th Ed), and Implementing the Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) Competencies in Healthcare: A Practical Guide for Improving Quality, Safety, and Outcomes, both American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award winners.

Melnyk is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Nursing, the National Academies of Practice, and the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. She served a four-year term on the 16-member United States Preventive Services Task Force and the National Institutes of Health’s National Advisory Council for Nursing Research. She currently serves as a member of the National Quality Forum’s (NQF) Behavioral Health Standing Committee. Melnyk is editor of the journal, Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, a board member of the National Forum for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, and a member of the National Academy of Medicine’s Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-being and Resilience.

Melnyk has received numerous national and international awards, including the Audrey Hepburn Award, Mary Tolle Wright Excellence in Leadership Award, the International Nursing Research Hall of Fame Award from Sigma Theta Tau International, the Jessie Scott Award from the American Nurses Association, the Midwest Nursing Research Society Senior Scientist award, the NIH/National Institute of Nursing Research’s inaugural director’s lectureship award, and the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties Lifetime Achievement Award. She also has been recognized as an Edge Runner three times by the American Academy of Nursing for founding and directing the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners’ KySS child and adolescent mental health program, her COPE Program for parents of preterm infants and critically ill children, and her COPE programs for decreasing depression/anxiety and improving healthy lifestyle behaviors in children, teens and young adults.