Karen A. Grimley, the new chief nursing executive for UCLA Health and assistant dean in the UCLA School of Nursing, will join UCLA on Sept. 28 from the UC Irvine Medical Center, where she currently serves as chief nursing officer and volunteer assistant clinical professor.
Her areas of responsibility at UC Irvine have encompassed all aspects of nursing practice, inpatient nursing operations, and programmatic oversight of the burn, trauma, stroke and transplant programs. As a champion of the patient experience at UC Irvine, Grimley organized and co-led the Patient Experience Coordinating Council to improve the patient experience by heightening organizational awareness.
Her strategic direction for nursing was essential in revitalizing both the shared governance structure and the Relationship-Based Care model, and incorporating the use of clinical and operational metrics to show nurses how their practice and delivery of safe, high-quality care directly contributed to the operational success of the hospital.
In her new role for UCLA Health, she will be responsible and accountable for the overall delivery and management of nursing professional practice, education, professional development, research, administration and clinical services. She will have staff accountability for enhancing a clinical practice environment that is patient-centered, with unsurpassed clinical quality and patient safety while also providing significant contributions to education and research.
Grimley received a B.S. degree in nursing at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, and an M.B.A. from Anna Maria College in Paxton, Massachusetts, before earning a Ph.D. in nursing from Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing at Florida Atlantic University.
