Kumhee Ro, D.N.P., APRN, FAAN

Kumhee Ro is an associate professor at Seattle University College of Nursing with decades of experience in education, health policy leadership, and practice. As a highly regarded leader, Dr. Ro leads local and national initiatives aimed at expansion, support, and advancement of the healthcare workforce. As the former inaugural director of a nursing program, Dr. Ro established partnerships with interprofessional teams in health care organizations and universities to improve education pathway programs and analyze current evaluation and program outcome processes. As a co-founder of the Jesuit Nurse Faculty Network, Dr. Ro provided visionary leadership to strategically promote collaboration among schools of nursing faculty to advance health equity. Dedicated to improving cultural humility, awareness and support, Dr. Ro identified a framework rooted in best practices to better support the academic success of faculty within nursing academia.
In addition to receiving numerous awards and recognitions from local and national organizations for her work in health equity advocacy, Dr. Ro recently served as a stakeholder advisor to the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality, guiding primary care research development for the US Department of Health and Human Services.
As a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow, Dr. Ro worked as a senior health advisor in the office of US Senator Tim Kaine and Washington State Health Care Authority to draft federal legislation and provide state policy recommendations ensuring that a well-trained health and primary care workforce is equipped to meet the needs of underserved and rural communities.
A fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, Dr. Ro continues to lead efforts transforming healthcare access and value-based models to enhance public health policy nationally and globally.