Prof. Emerita Judith E. Haber Named 2025 AAN Living Legend

NYU Meyers Prof. Emerita Judith E. Haber, PhD, APRN, FAAN, who is also Executive Director of the Oral Health Nursing Education Program (OHNEP), has been named an American Academy of Nursing Living Legend, one of the highest honors in the profession.

Dr. Haber is a pioneer in psychiatric nursing and a leader in evidence-based practice and oral-systemic health. Her career spans 60 years and has impacted policy, clinical practice, and interdisciplinary and inter-professional collaboration and education.

She is among six 2025 Living Legends from across the nation who will be honored at the AAN annual Health Policy Conference in October. In addition, four NYU Meyers professors and five Meyers alumni are among this year’s class of newly named AAN Fellows, a distinction that recognizes nurses for significant contributions to the profession.

“Judith Haber is a trailblazer with a six-decade track record of groundbreaking work as a leader, policy advocate, researcher and educator,” said Meyers Dean Angela F. Amar. “She’s helped to shape psychiatric-mental health nursing, advance inter-professional cooperation, and bring national attention to oral-systemic health. As a professor and an alumna, she represents the best of NYU Meyers.”

Dr. Haber co-chaired the American Nurses Association task force that established the first Scope and Standards for Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioners. She also played an instrumental role in the landmark 1998 Medicare policy change that authorized reimbursement for advanced practice nurses, which expanded access to mental health services.

Her more recent work includes the founding of the Oral Health Nursing Education and Practice program, which integrates oral health into nursing and inter-professional education and was recognized as an Academy Edge Runner model in 2019. Dr. Haber’s transformative research, policy advocacy, and nursing education leadership have improved care and redefined health integration across disciplines.

“It is an honor to recognize and celebrate the astonishing achievements of this year’s Living Legends,” said Academy President Linda D. Scott, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FADLN, FNAP, FAAN. “Together, these Living Legends are transforming care, creating policy impact, disseminating vital research, uplifting leaders within the profession, and improving the health of countless individuals in their communities.”

The NYU Meyers faculty and staff who were recognized in this year’s class of AAN Fellows are:

• Prof. Kevin Hook, DNP, ACHPN, AGPCNP-BC, ACHPN, Assistant Dean for Clinical Operations and Innovation and Director of the Adult and Gerontology Nurse Practitioner program
• Prof. Velda Gonzalez. PhD, RN
• Prof. Jayna Moceri-Brooks, PhD, RN
• Prof. Dilice Robertson, DNP, APRN, PMHCNS-BC, PMHNP-BC, RN, Director of the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program
• Cassandra Vonnes, DNP, GNP-BC, APRN, AOCNP, CPHQ, FAHA
• NICHE Leadership Training Consultant

The NYU Meyers alumni who were named AAN Fellows this year are:

• Prof. Leon Chen ’10, ‘13, DNP, AGACNP-BC, FCCP, FAANP, FCCM, Columbia University School of Nursing
• Ellen Flaherty ’04, PhD, APRN,  Director of the Dartmouth Centers for Health and Aging and Past President of the American Geriatrics Society
• Prof. Erica Liebermann ‘19, PhD, ANP, University of Rhode Island College of Nursing
• Prof. M. Rebecca O’Connor ‘04, PhD, RN, University of Washington School of Nursing
• Meagan Whisenant “03, PhD, APRN, Director of the PhD program, Department of Research Cizik School of Nursing, UT Health Houston.