Daniela Defrino

During her long and successful career as a Registered Nurse, Daniela DeFrino has acted as a staff nurse, educator, author, and recruiter. Her most recent professional position took her to the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she assisted in writing grant proposals, reviewed literature for professors, and edited manuscripts to prepare them for publication. Currently, Daniela DeFrino attends Loyola University Chicago, where she is earning her PhD in Nursing from the Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing. Fully accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, the school boasts top-quality nursing programs at all levels, and holds the distinction of having created the first Bachelor’s degree program for nurses in Illinois.

Over the course of her career, Daniela DeFrino has received recognition for her accomplishments and service. She was presented with the Nurse of the Year Award from Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, where she served as a Clinical Nurse Educator in the Education and Research Department. In this role, DeFrino took responsibility for restructuring the unlicensed assistant personnel course and to that end developed teaching curriculum, wrote lectures, matched course objectives to content, and taught clinical work. In 1998, she gained admittance to the international nursing honors society Sigma Theta Tau International’s Alpha Lambda chapter, an organization to which she still belongs.

As an author, Daniela DeFrino has written articles that have appeared in prestigious publications, including The Nurse Practitioner, Nursing Spectrum, and Research and Theory for Nursing Practice: An International Journal. She presented a speech in Italian called “The American Nursing Experience” at the International Nursing Convention at Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute in Bologna, Italy, in 1998.

Before entering the doctoral program at Loyola University Chicago, Daniela DeFrino gained a wealth of experience in different positions. From 1995 to 2000, she served Northwestern Memorial Hospital in various roles, including Staff Nurse, Assistant Nurse Recruiter, and Coordinator of Nursing Development. She also acted as a consultant for Italian health care professionals, coordinating a two-week study program for Italian doctors and nurses. Daniela DeFrino has also worked at the University of Illinois at Chicago as a Clinical Instructor in its College of Nursing, where she taught clinical leadership and management