Patricia Benner

Dr. Patricia Benner is a professor emerita at the University of California School of Nursing. She is a noted nursing educator and author of "From Novice to Expert: Excellence and Power in Nursing Practice," which has been translated into twelve languages.

She has directed over 50 doctoral dissertations. She pioneered the use of Interpretive Phenomenology in Nursing. She directed The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching National Nursing Education Study, "Educating Nurses: A Call for Radical Transformation" which was the first such study in forty years. Additionally, she collaborated with the Carnegie Preparation for the Professions studies of clergy, engineering, law, and medicine.

Dr. Benner is designated as a Living Legend of the American Academy of Nursing. She was elected an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Nursing and Danish Society for Nurses. Her work has influence beyond nursing in the areas of clinical practice and clinical ethics. She has received five honorary doctorates.

She is the first author of Expertise in "Nursing Practice: Caring, Ethics and Clinical Judgment" (2010) with Christine Tanner and Catherine Chesla, and she has coauthored twelve other notable books including a 2nd Edition of "Clinical Wisdom and Interventions in Acute and Critical Care: A Thinking-In-Action Approach." She is Co-Founder of NovicetoExpert.org, an online simulation program to teach clinical reasoning and judgment. She is Chief Executive Officer of EducatingNurses.com. She received the American Credentialing Center’s Margretta Madden Style President’s Leadership Award in October 2023.