Maureen “Shawn” Kennedy, MA, RN, FAAN is the editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Nursing, following prior positions as news director and then editorial director. In 2008, Kennedy was a visiting nurse scholar at the WHO Office of Nursing and Midwifery; in 2009, she was inducted into the Hunter College Hall of Fame. As editor-in-chief, she’s led award-winning projects and series that have increased nurses’ awareness of important professional and social justice issues, enhanced curriculum, and provided evidence for policy change. She’s guided AJN’s innovative digital and social media strategy to lead that of nursing and most medical journals. Her work in advancing standards for nursing publications was recognized in 2016 by the International Academy of Nursing Editors with the Margaret Comerford Freda Award for Editorial Leadership and in 2017, she was awarded The Nightingale Initiative for Global Health Advocacy in Action Award for excellence in promoting nursing scholarship. Author of several book chapters and numerous articles, she’s also an “author-in-residence” for Nurse Author and Editor, an online journal. Her editorials in AJN have received six Clarion awards from the Association of Women in Communications. She is a member of the Regional Advisory Board for the Heilbrunn Center for Nursing Research at Rockefeller University, a member of AARP’s Home Alone Alliance, and a board member of a northern New Jersey hospital system.

She began her career as an emergency nurse at Bellevue Hospital in New York City and has also held positions as an acute care clinical nurse specialist, adjunct faculty, and nursing administration.