Donna Caruso, MSN

Donna Caruso is Practicum Coordinator, and a Lecturer in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health.

Donna Caruso, the Practicum Coordinator, brings a unique blend of clinical, management, and public health experience to her task of helping students find the most suitable environment in which to apply their classroom knowledge to the real world. Her new assignment is in keeping with a career in which she has long emphasized the importance of partnerships as a tool for educating disparate players about the value of public health, and for getting things done. Ms. Caruso joined SPPHS in 2009, after a 17-year nursing and management career in the Public Health Division of Arlington, Va.’s Department of Human Services. In her most recent capacity as chief of the Division’s School Health Bureau, she directed an innovative school-based program built on a public health model. Over the years, she also had executive responsibilities for emergency management, maternal and child health, HIV, and communicable diseases in the health department. An important feature of many of her assignments was to bring state, regional, community, and academic players together to pursue common goals. Ms. Caruso spent a number of years with her husband in Paris, most recently from 1993 to 1998. Restricted from paid employment, she plunged into myriad community activities. She was co-founder of Health Network International, which supports health care professionals with networking and professional development opportunities, and served as president of Women of the American Church, which helps English-speaking newcomers adapt to life in Paris. Ms. Caruso also introduced health topics into the continuing education program of a nonprofit organization and edited and later updated a book on health care resources.

Bachelor of Science (Nursing) George Mason University, 1980 Master of Science (Nursing administration), George Mason University, 1982

Ms. Caruso’s research interests focus on evidence-based practices, risk reduction strategies, and risk communication, especially in the areas of obesity, adolescent behavior, environmental, and emergency response.

Over the years Ms. Caruso has worked with local PTAs, the Steering Committee for Northern Virginia Coalition for Healthy Kids, the Regional Access to Care Committee, the Capital Regional United Way Committee, the Arlington Public Schools Comprehensive School Health Committee, and several subcommittees of Arlington Partnership for Children, Youth and Families.