University of California, San Francisco
Center for Nursing Research & Innovation
School of Nursing
San Francisco
CAUSA
94143
Biographical Sketch: Mary E. Foley RN, MS, PhD (c) ,is the Associate Director in the Center for Nursing Research and Innovation at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) School of Nursing. Mary was president of the American Nurses Association from 2000-2002. She was employed for 19 years at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco. She was a medical-surgical staff nurse at Saint Francis for 17 years. In 1997, she became the Director of Nursing and Safety Officer.
A registered nurse for over 35 years, Foley has been active in the health care policy arena. She continues to write and lecture about health care policy, improving the workplace, and promoting safe care for workers and patients nationally and internationally. As a representative of ANA, Mary had the privilege of representing the United States at the International Council of Nurses (ICN) meetings in 1997, 1999, and 2001. Mary was Vice President of the American Nurses Association/California until March 2009. She has been appointed to the Strategic Planning Committee of CGFNS through 2010. She served a six-year term as a member of the National Patient Safety Foundation Board of Directors and is an advisory member of the Partnership for Patient Safety (p4ps) and a member of the Governing Council for the Patient Safety Education Project. She works with TDICT as a project consultant with expertise in safer needle device evaluation.
Foley received her nursing diploma in 1973 from New England Deaconess Hospital School of Nursing, her BSN in 1976 from Boston University School of Nursing in Massachusetts, and her Master’s of Science in Nursing Administration and Occupational Health from the University of California in San Francisco in 1994. She is a candidate for a PhD in nursing and is currently completing her dissertation on the topic of needlestick injuries and prevention policies.