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Brenda Zierler, PhD, RN, RVT, FAAN

Director of Research and Training of Externally Funded Grants

Dr. Zierler’s professional background is in nursing with a clinical focus on cardiovascular disease, innovative technologies, and a research focus on health systems/health services related to interprofessional collaborative practice for improving team functioning and patient and systems outcomes.

Her primary appointment is in the School of Nursing at the University of Washington, but she holds three adjunct appointments – two in the School of Medicine and one in the School of Public Health. Dr. Zierler has 20 years of experience participating, developing, implementing, and testing team approaches to clinical care, research, and education in a variety of environments.

Dr. Zierler is the Chair of the Department of Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Informatics, and co-lead of Team Science education and training, for UW’s Institute of Translational Health Science (ITHS) in the UW School of Medicine. She teaches team science and leadership to nursing PhD students and interdisciplinary research teams. She also teaches quality improvement, patient safety and informatics to undergraduate nursing students.

Dr. Zierler is a member of ITHS Antiracism Committee and recently completed a sabbatical project focused on Health Equity Quality Improvement Scholar’s Program for Doctor in Nursing Practice students. She is the past Director of Research and Training for the UW Center for Health Sciences Interprofessional Education Practice and Research (2010-2023).

Departments

  • Professor, Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Informatics
  • Chair, Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Informatics
  • Kaiser Permanente Endowed Professorship, Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Informatics
  • Adjunct Professor, Biomedical Informatics and Medical Education
  • Adjunct Professor, Health Systems and Population Health
  • Adjunct Professor, Surgery

Areas of Interest/Focus of Work

  • Biomedical and health informatics
  • The influence of care delivery systems on patient outcomes, clinical effectiveness
  • Team science, collaborative practice, leadership, and cardiovascular disease (specifically deep vein thrombosis)

Publications