Kari A. Mastro, PhD, RN, NEA-BC
Kari A. Mastro is the Director of Practice, Innovation and Research at Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center. In this role, she is responsible for patient care excellence initiatives across Penn Medicine Princeton Health, driving innovation and leading the Center for Innovation and Excellence. Additionally, she serves as faculty teaching evidenced-based policy development in the Nursing PhD program at Rutgers the State University of New Jersey.
Dr. Mastro has served in many senior leadership roles as Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer of Nursing & Patient Care Services at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital and the Sloane Hospital for Women of New York-Presbyterian and as Assistant Vice President, Nursing and Patient Care Services for Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. She began her nursing career Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. and joined the staff of Robert Wood Johnson in 1991 where she held several nursing leadership roles.
Making a difference in the lives of children and their families is her passion. For over thirty years, she has focused on ensuring that the care provided to children is of supreme quality regardless of where the care is provided and who is providing that care. Her impact to children’s health has been far reaching.
She has received many awards for her work and has been recognized for her leadership by the March of Dimes as Nurse of the Year, the NDNQI Award for Outstanding Nursing Quality in the Academic Medical Center, the Magnet Prize Honors for Innovation, and the HRET Community Outreach Award for Improving End-of-Life Care.
Dr. Mastro is well published in the field of Nursing Leadership, Children’s Healthcare, and Patient- and Family-Centered Care and speaks nationally and internationally on these topics. She has extended her influence in improving the care of children internationally as the key note speaker at the Beijing International Forum of Pediatric Development where she presented how nursing in the United States is leading children’s healthcare into the future. While in China, she organized a collaborative in which China’s nursing leaders came to the United States and partner with U.S. nursing leaders in an effort to bridge the gap in care and improve the quality of care for children in China.
Dr. Mastro received her undergraduate degree in Nursing from Catholic University of America and a Master’s degree in Nursing from Seton Hall University and her Ph.D. in Nursing at the University of Colorado with a focus on Patient- and Family-Centered Care and the impact of patient and parent partnership in care on quality, safety, and satisfaction outcomes.