Diane Juliano
Diane Juliano ‘99, DNP, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, FACHE, the regional chief nursing officer for Jefferson Health, chose a career in health care to serve her community and to be an advocate for the people who work to heal others.
From her Washington Township office, she covers three Jefferson campuses and sometimes visits multiple locations per day. Her job is to lead the nursing staff in providing the most efficient and effective patient care services through planning and policy making.
She described her job as “taking care of the people who take care of the people” and added “I’ll always be a nurse.”
She first came to Stockton in 1993 to study physical therapy, but a nursing shortage led her to switch her major to nursing and transfer to Cumberland County College. After taking the fundamental nursing courses during her first semester, she got a job as a patient care technician at South Jersey Health System (now Inspira) and worked her way through school.
After she graduated, she worked for a home care agency in Somers Point for a year and decided to return to Stockton to earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) in the RN to BSN program.
Her memories as an Osprey include office hours with her professors, soccer games and visiting Lake Fred.
“What I appreciate and remember about Stockton is that professors made sure that if you were struggling, they would have open office hours or individual study groups to make sure that we were grasping the material,” she said.
Outside of class, she enjoyed attending soccer games to support her friends on the team.
“Soccer became a big memory for me because not only did I have friends on the team, but we made soccer like our football. They were very good back then. It was Coach (Tim) Lenahan at that time,” she said.
She always made sure the team had plenty of snacks and food.
She began her hospital career at Northeastern Temple and worked as an agency nurse at Cooper Hospital.
“It was very evident to me early in my career that nurses needed a strong voice and a leadership presence,” she said.
Early in her career, a night shift supervisor saw something in her and encouraged her to get into leadership. She listened to that advice, setting her on a path of growth. She took a 3-11 p.m. supervisor position and pursued a dual master’s program to earn an MBA and MSN from Wilmington University.
Her new degrees prepared her to take a position as a clinical director at Cooper.
“And then over the years, I was tapped for various leadership roles and continued to grow my leadership skills,” she said.
She attended the Wharton Executive Business Certificate Program, a nine-month program that further developed her leadership skills and worked her way up to director of the Patient Family Care Center.
When she started to think about a doctoral program, she stepped out of operations to work as a night shift supervisor and focus on her next educational journey.
When she didn’t get into Villanova’s Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program, she didn’t give up. She took a promotional opportunity at Virtua where she focused on strengthening their intensive care unit. That work led her to become the director of clinical excellence where she oversaw the nurse educators for three Virtua hospitals.
Her boss encouraged her to go for her doctorate, and she enrolled at LaSalle where she graduated with honors. This led her to Jefferson Health in 2019, where she is now regional chief nursing officer, a position that she aspired to reach before turning 50. She reached that goal two years ahead of schedule.
The new generation of nurses keeps her energized. “I'm making it a profession that this new generation wants to stay in because we all know that the new generation is teaching us something about a work-life balance,” she said.
Her career journey has taught her “to go slow to go far and not to skip any steps.” Sometimes that means being patient with your goals. “I didn’t pass my nursing boards the first time,” she said.
She also emphasized the importance of integrity. “When you're younger, even though you have a lot of things pulling at you, you might say, ‘oh, well, I just will call out today,’ but be thoughtful in those decisions. What is your legacy going to be? What is your work ethic going to be known as,” she said.
She serves on the board of directors for the Organization of Nurse Leaders of New Jersey (ONL-NJ) and has been an active member for more than a decade.
Outside of work, she describes herself as a foodie and enjoys visiting the beaches of Cape May County where she lives. Her husband is part of a band, the Juliano Brothers, so live music is a big part of their life in the summer when he performs at Jersey Shore venues.
Patience and persistence led Juliano to reach her goals, but her proudest accomplishment in life was her kidney donation to her father in 2020, which gave him four precious years of life and time with his family.
Story by Susan Allen
