Karen Roush, PhD, RN, FNP-BC, received her PhD in nursing research and theory development from the New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing. She started her nursing education with an associate degree in nursing from Adirondack Community College in 1982, went on for her BSN at Russell Sage College, and then earned a master's degree at Columbia University, where she specialized as a family nurse practitioner.
Roush served for many years as Editorial Director and Clinical Managing Editor for the American Journal of Nursing (AJN) and continues her affiliation with the journal as News Director. In addition, she is the founder of The Scholar's Voice, which works to strengthen the voice of nursing through writing mentorship for nurses. In this capacity, Roush works with nurses in varied roles, including doctoral students, faculty members, nursing leaders, and bedside nurses. She is particularly proud of her success working with bedside nurses and other novice writers and shares their joy when they become published authors for the first time. She is an award-winning writer who has authored multiple consumer healthcare books, numerous nursing articles in peer-reviewed journals, essays, and poetry. Roush has traveled to Rwanda, Uganda, and India as a nursing volunteer and taught nursing students in Ghana. She was a visiting scholar in the Department of Human Resources for Health at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. Currently she works as adjunct faculty at Pace University and The Graduate Center for the City University of New York.