Maryann F. Fralic

Fralic, professor emerita at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing and a vice president of nursing for The Johns Hopkins Hospital, was born in McKeesport, Pennsylvania. She earned her RN from the McKeesport Hospital School of Nursing and a BSN from Duquesne University. She later earned an MSN and a DrPh from the University of Pittsburgh.

Fralic began her nursing career in 1957 as a staff nurse at McKeesport Hospital, working part time while earning her BSN. She later became evening supervisor for the hospital’s nursing service and an instructor for its School of Nursing. In 1973, Fralic joined Braddock General Hospital in Pennsylvania as assistant director of nursing. She was promoted to director of nursing the following year. In 1980, she moved to Pittsburgh’s Mercy Hospital to become nursing division consultant to the executive director. She also taught at the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Nursing and served as consultant in nursing and health care administration.

In 1984, Fralic was named senior vice president for nursing at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and clinical associate dean of Rutgers University College of Nursing. In 1993, she was appointed vice president for nursing for The Johns Hopkins Hospital. She resigned from that position in 1998 but remained on the faculty at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, serving as professor and director of corporate and foundation relations. She held joint appointments in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Carey Business School.

Fralic has been a member and chair of the National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice of the Health Resources and Services Administration, a trustee of the American Nurses Foundation, and a trustee for the Institute for Nursing Research of the National Institutes of Health. She is a founding board member and a past president of the Friends of the National Institute for Nursing Research and is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, the National Academies of Practice, and the Johnson & Johnson-Wharton program in management for nurses.

In 2012, she received the American Organization of Nurse Executives’ Lifetime Achievement Award for her work to shape the future of the nursing profession and cultivate nursing leadership. She also established a professional development award at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing to provide financial support for up to two exceptional Ph.D nursing students per year. She retired in 2013.