MARLA DE JONG

Dr. Marla De Jong is Dean and the Louis H. Peery Presidential Endowed Chair at the University of Utah College of Nursing. As Dean, she oversees the College’s Office of Advancement, undergraduate and graduate nursing programs with an enrollment of nearly 700 students, an interdisciplinary gerontology graduate program, a $59M portfolio of funded research and scholarship, and several clinical practices. At the University of Utah, she is Chair of the Center on Aging Board, Co-Chair of Ad Hoc Committee on Career-Line Faculty Matters, member of the Council of Academic Deans, member of the Operational Excellence Deans Taskforce, and invited member of the University of Utah Hospital Board and Primary Children’s Hospital Board, among other committees and boards. She previously was Chair of the Division of Acute and Chronic Care.

Dean De Jong is a lifelong leader in nursing. Before joining the U, she had an impressive career in the military with nearly 29 years in the United States Air Force, retiring at the rank of Colonel. She served in clinical, leadership, research, and academic roles, including associate dean for research, and professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. She was also dean of the US Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, executive director of the TriService Nursing Research Program, a program manager for the Department of Defense Blast Injury Research Program Coordinating Office, and the Chief Military Consultant to the Air Force Surgeon General for Nursing Research. In 2006, Dr. De Jong deployed to Iraq as the program manager for the Joint Theater Trauma System.

Dr. De Jong’s work has informed and shaped leadership, research, education, health policy, and military and civilian clinical practice. She conducted funded research, served in leadership positions for nursing organizations, served as editorial board member for several journals, and published more 55 journal articles.

Dr. De Jong was inducted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing in 2012. She received early promotions to Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel. She received the University of Maryland School of Nursing Distinguished Alumni and Grand View University Distinguished Alumni Awards in 2014, and the University of Maryland School of Nursing Visionary Pioneer Award in 2015. Dr. De Jong was inducted into the University of Kentucky College of Nursing Hall of Fame in 2011. In 2022, Dean De Jong received the Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education Administrative Leadership Honor, and the Exemplary Nurse Leader Award – Academia from the Utah Organization of Nurse Leaders. Currently, she serves nationally as Advisor (post-Chair service) to the American Academy of Nursing Fellow Selection Committee, member of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s Government Affairs Committee, and editorial board member for Military Medicine.

Dr. De Jong earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing from Grand View College. She received her MS from the University of Maryland at Baltimore, and her PhD from the University of Kentucky.