Name: Melanie Heuston
Previous title: Senior nursing executive, Meritus Health
New title: Chief nursing executive, West Virginia University Health System
Heuston begins the inaugural role on Aug. 22 and will be tasked with developing tools to enhance nurse efficiency, supporting the health system’s efforts to increase nurse retention and leading the system’s Nursing Affinity Group. She will also be responsible for bolstering WVU Medicine’s nurse talent pipeline for its hospitals and clinics.
“She will be a critical team member as we continue to develop innovative ways to sustain and grow our nursing workforce,” Albert L. Wright, Jr., president and CEO of the system, said in a statement.
Heuston earned the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Magnet credential, the nation’s highest professional nursing accolade, during her tenure at Meritus in 2019. Prior to joining Meritus, she served as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing and was the vice president of clinical education at the Institute for Transfusion Medicine.
She holds both a Doctor of Nursing Practice and Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Pittsburgh and began her nursing career as an ICU nurse.
The nurse executive role comes at a time when as much as a third of nurses nationally consider quitting their jobs this year and health systems struggle to staff nursing roles.