Sharon P. O’Neill, DNP, J.D., CRNP, named inaugural director of Loyola’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing program
Sharon P. O’Neill, DNP, J.D., CRNP, has been named the inaugural director of Loyola University Maryland’s new Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree program. O’Neill, who was selected after a national search, is an experienced leader in the field of nursing education. Loyola is preparing to welcome the first BSN cohort in Fall of 2025. The program is offered through a collaborative partnership with Mercy Medical Center, which will provide clinical placements at Mercy's downtown Baltimore campus.
“Dr. O’Neill’s unique blend of administrative and teaching experience, combined with her proven leadership skills and deep understanding of the field of nursing, will be invaluable as the University launches its innovative BSN program,” said Cheryl Moore-Thomas, Ph.D., provost and vice president for academic affairs. “Dr. O’Neill is a thoughtful educator, nurse, and leader. Her decades of practicing, teaching, and administrative experience—all in the name of helping others—embody the spirit and tradition of Loyola’s Jesuit Catholic values and the University’s commitment to the development of the whole person.”
Prior to joining Loyola, O’Neill served in administrative and teaching capacities at several prestigious institutions, including most recently as a clinical associate professor at New York University’s (NYU) Rory Meyers College of Nursing from 2021-24. There she chaired two Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) projects and taught across the curriculum, drawing on experiences in both nursing and law. She also worked at the University of Southern California (USC) from 2015-21 and The Johns Hopkins University (JHU) from 2000-15.
“Dr. O’Neill is just the person to spearhead Loyola’s transformative BSN program, which will expand the University’s health-related and STEM offerings and, crucially, help address the nursing shortage in our community,” said Maiju Lehmijoki Wetzel, Ph.D., BSN, R.N, director of pre-health programs at Loyola. “Dr. O’Neill brings a wealth of academic and professional knowledge to this role that will empower her to not only prepare the program for launch next fall, but also to lay the foundation for its sustained success in the long term.”
While at JHU, O’Neill coordinated the MSN-prepared Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) program for seven years and chaired the Academic Progressions and the Master’s Admissions committees. She played a pivotal role in the early adoption of simulation across the curriculum in collaboration with Dr. Pamela Jeffries, a renowned expert in simulation. She also spent more than 13 years as a part-time attorney in the Office of Professional and Regulatory Affairs at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, a JHU affiliate, where she handled research contracts, and memorandums of understanding with medical, nursing, and other health professional schools.
“I am thrilled to join the Loyola community and would like to extend my gratitude to Dr. Thomas-Moore and Dr. Wetzel for their partnership in this endeavor and their faith in my vision for this program,” said Dr. O’Neill. “Our hard work has already begun, and I look forward to continuing to collaborate with our faculty, staff, and administrators—as well as our partners at Mercy Medical Center—to develop and implement a state-of-the-art BSN program which will prepare our nursing students to go out into the world and do good for others.”
At USC, O’Neill served as the vice-chair of the Department of Nursing within the Suzanne Dwork-Peck School of Social Work. O’Neill navigated the program’s approval by the school, university, and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. As a member of the Health Policy and Practice Committee of the California Association of Nurse Practitioners, she played an active role in the passage of the full-practice nurse practitioner legislation signed into law in October 2020.
O’Neill’s clinical work includes developing an adolescent transition clinic for patients with sickle cell anemia from pediatrics to adult hematology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and overseeing the mergers of medical and mental health services at University Health Services at the JHU School of Medicine. She is currently working to build a school and dormitories for children in Nairobi, Kenya, impacted by the death of parents from the AIDs crisis.
A Baltimore native, O’Neill graduated from the Institute of Notre Dame. She received her diploma from the Maryland General Hospital School of Nursing in 1978 and her BSN from what is now Notre Dame of Maryland University in 1981. She earned her M.S. in Nursing from the University of Pennsylvania in 1983 and her DNP from the Catholic University of America in 2013. O’Neill also received her J.D. from the University of Baltimore in 1992. Her mother, Helen O’Neill, ‘68, and sister, Maureen Ciesielski ,‘76, graduated from Loyola.
About Loyola’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing
Loyola’s upcoming BSN degree program, which has been approved by The Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) and the Maryland Board of Nursing (MBON), is uniquely designed to integrate an exceptional liberal arts foundation with a holistic nursing education, steeped in the Jesuit tradition of care and social justice. Education in direct patient care includes a wide range of clinical rotations at the University’s nursing education partner, Mercy Medical Center, a hospital recognized nationally for nursing excellence. Loyola is preparing to welcome the first BSN cohort in Fall of 2025. The graduates of Loyola’s BSN program are eligible for Registered Nurse licensure in Maryland. Maryland is a member of the Nurse Licensure Compact for RN licensure. For more information on multistate compact licensure, visit the NCSBN website on the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) and APRN Compact. More licensure information and disclosures can be found on Loyola's website.