Yvonne Wesley, vice president for community relations at Meridian Health, a clinical associate professor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey’s School of Nursing, and this year’s commencement speaker, has long been a strong advocate of minority nurses moving into leadership positions at health care organizations.

As a Minority Nurse Leadership Institute (MNLI) fellow at the Rutgers College of Nursing in Newark, she expanded her knowledge of the wide spectrum of nursing disciplines and leadership positions to which she and fellow registered nurses could aspire.

The author of numerous articles in prestigious journals about issues connected with HIV, AIDS and pregnancy, Wesley earned her B.S.N. from Kean College, her M.S. from Rutgers University and her Ph.D. from New York University.

Wesley was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing last November and won a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission Drum Major Award for Humanity in March of 2004.