Audrey Lyndon

Prof. Lyndon is the Vernice D. Ferguson Professor in Health Equity and Executive Vice Dean at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing. Her work focuses on three key areas: maternal health equity, community health engagement, and developing the nursing science and healthcare workforce. Lyndon’s maternal health work has focused on patient safety and quality in maternity and neonatal care, including improving communication and teamwork among clinicians; identifying parents’ perspectives on safety during labor, birth, and neonatal care; developing nurse-sensitive outcomes for labor and birth; researching severe maternal morbidity and maternal mortality; and holistic perinatal wellbeing. Her team has conducted groundbreaking research on the differences in clinicians’ and parents’ perspectives on speaking up about safety concerns, as well as developing an understanding of how women and parents conceptualize safety during childbirth and neonatal intensive care. Lyndon co-chaired the development of the CMQCC Obstetric Hemorrhage Toolkit, which became a national and international model for maternal safety bundles and collaborative quality improvement. Lyndon led an interdisciplinary research study funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality that established hospital-level exclusive breastfeeding rates and cesarean birth rates as nurse-sensitive outcomes. Lyndon’s current work focuses on understanding the experiences of communities that have faced higher rates of severe maternal morbidity and mortality. She and her team seek to gain a deeper understanding of the support needs and research priorities of severe maternal morbidity survivors, and to develop community-driven prevention targets for SMM and maternal health complications. Lyndon’s dedication to developing the nursing science and healthcare workforce includes mentoring and sponsoring clinicians and scientists from underserved communities. Her goals are to develop effective pathway programs for these individuals to pursue careers in nursing, nursing science, and clinical specialties.