Biography

From treating Bolivian families in the Andes Mountains to setting up the IU School of Nursing’s pediatric nurse practitioner (PNP) program, Linda Gilman has impacted the nursing field in more ways than one.

For 18 years, Gilman wrote multiple grants to fund the PNP program using sources from Indiana and the federal government. Her efforts to develop and evaluate the curriculum lead to it shifting from a continuing education program to the graduate program in 1980. The Indiana native currently diagnoses and treats patients at Southwest Health Center, but lights up when she discusses her volunteer work. “Every other year, I visit the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota,” she said. “I’ve used my skills as a nurse to tackle their health-related issues. We also provide them with resources like wheelchair ramps.”

Gilman’s concern for children’s welfare not only motivated her to implement the PNP program, but earned her a sabbatical to review the status of children in Indiana. She was also instrumental in developing the national association of pediatric nurse practitioners (NAPNAP). “Nurses wanted to become more independent and change the definition of ‘nurse practitioner,’” she remembered. “Developing NAPNAP furthered that mission.”

The title and definition of “nurse practitioner” were written into the State Nurse Practitioner Act due, in part, to her efforts.

“I am proud to have created a program that allowed nurses to work nationally and internationally and provide children with quality healthcare,” she said. “My vision is for children to have responsible, high-level care.”