RWJF Executive Nurse Fellows Program

Associate Professor and Regional Dean of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Anita Thigpen Perry School of Nursing in El Paso, Texas. Dr. Lujan is a first-generation Mexican American and the first Hispanic nurse to be named dean of a school of nursing in El Paso, Texas. She has twenty-eight years of experience in nursing. Dr. Lujan has taught in undergraduate and graduate nursing programs, where she developed a comprehensive plan for the increased use of online methods, as well as clinical simulation technology. She was appointed to the Texas Board of Nursing in 2009 and served on the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s Advisory Committee on RN Education during 2008. In 2005, Dr. Lujan conducted a research intervention study for Mexican Americans with type 2 diabetes that was funded by the Paso Del Norte Center for Border Health Research. She has developed multiple Health Resources and Services Administration grant proposals to enhance training of nurses and increase the retention of Hispanic nursing students. In 2007, Dr. Lujan worked with Hospital Corporation of America to develop and implement a program to prepare Mexico-trained nurses to meet the US licensure requirements. Dr. Lujan has published in peer-reviewed journals to include The Diabetes Educator, Hispanic Health Care International and The Journal of Nursing Education. Her book, Community Health Worker: Diabetes Self-Management Intervention for Mexican Americans was published by VDM Verlag in 2007.