MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — As part of the Jenab Lectureship, West Virginia University School of Nursing will welcome Dr. Cynthia Persily as the keynote speaker.
Persily, Cabinet Secretary of the West Virginia Department of Human Services, will present “Excellence and Integrity: The Gateway to Leadership.” Her career spans more than 30 years of service to the state of West Virginia and its citizens.
The lectureship will be held Thursday, April 24 at 6 p.m. at the WVU Health Sciences Center, Okey Patteson Auditorium. A reception will be held at 5 p.m. in the lobby outside the auditorium.
For 20 years, Persily helped educate student nurses at West Virginia University, ultimately becoming a tenured professor in the WVU School of Nursing. She served as Associate Dean of Graduate Practice Programs prior to her 2013 departure.
During her time at WVU, Persily also had a faculty practice in a rural health clinic for more than 15 years providing prenatal care to rural women as a nurse practitioner. She served as the Co-Director of the HRSA-funded WV Rural Health Research Center.
In 2013, Persily took on the role of President and CEO of Highland Hospital and other affiliated Highland companies, providing strategic leadership to this behavioral health system for seven years. Under her leadership, the system transitioned to Medicaid managed care for inpatient and outpatient services, opened a residential psychiatric treatment facility for children, and scaled mental health services to meet demand.
In 2020, Persily became Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences at the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission where she was charged with supporting the creation of the next generation of health care workforce to meet the state’s needs. In June 2023, she was appointed by Gov. Jim Justice to Cabinet Secretary of the newly created West Virginia Department of Human Services, overseeing Medicaid, CHIP, behavioral health, social services, family assistance, child support enforcement and drug control policy.
Persily holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from East Stroudsburg University, a Master of Science in Nursing in Perinatal Nursing from the University of Pennsylvania, and a PhD in Nursing and Health and Social Policy from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
In addition to the lecture, the WVU School of Nursing will honor outstanding student achievements and present awards. New members will also be inducted into the Alpha Rho Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society — an international community of nurses, dedicated to the advancement of knowledge, teaching, learning, and service through the cultivation of communities of practice, education and research.
This year marks the 16th bi-annual lectureship, which pays tribute to Dr. Lorita D. Jenab, who served as the second Dean of the School of Nursing for 24 years. When she retired in 1992, the lectureship was established to recognize her contributions to the School of Nursing and to the state of West Virginia.
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CONTACT: Wendy Holdren
Director of Communications and Marketing
WVU School of Nursing
304-581-1772; wendy.holdren@hsc.wvu.edu