2023 Hall of Fame Award Recipient
This award honors alumni who have made significant contributions to the nursing profession in clinical practice, education, administration or organizational work involving health care.
About Cynthia Weston
Dr. Cynthia Weston earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree in 1989 from the University of Texas Medical Branch School of Nursing in Galveston. She also holds a Master of Science in Nursing from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, a post-masters Family Nurse Practitioner certificate from Texas Tech Health Science Center, and a Doctor of Nursing Practice from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
Dr. Weston began her nursing career at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital/Texas Heart Institute caring for infants, children, and adults after cardiac surgery and transplantation. She was appointed the Betty Baker Distinguished Professor in Cardiovascular Nursing at Stephen F. Austin State University in 1996.
She has extensive career experience in the care of infants, children, and adults with heart disease and focuses her research on improvement science and building effective interprofessional teams. Additionally, she developed innovative clinical simulation and teaching methods to prepare the next generation of family nurse practitioners to meet the gaps in access to health care.
Other research interests include cardiovascular disease, health and wellness, innovative pedagogy in family nurse practitioner curriculum, improving access to health care in vulnerable populations, patient safety, and interprofessional education.
In 2007, Dr. Weston established nurse practitioner services for the cardiovascular service line at Kingwood Medical Center achieving 100 percent compliance in CMS Core Measures throughout her tenure.
In 2011, she received an academic appointment in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio School of Medicine as the nurse practitioner for the congenital heart program and single ventricle clinic.
Dr. Weston has been a co-recipient of more than $20 million in funding to implement nurse-managed care delivery models, innovative simulation, integrated behavioral health care models, and improving health outcomes in vulnerable populations.
A longtime registered nurse and nurse practitioner in Texas, Weston is the immediate past-president of Texas Nurse Practitioners, the largest state NP organization in the US, an organization she has been a member of since 2000.
Other professional memberships include the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties, the International Association for Clinical Simulation in Nursing, and more.
In April 2023, she was selected as a fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and has been inducted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.
In May 2023, Dr. Weston was named the founding dean of the new College of Nursing at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth. She assumed her new role on July 1 and is leading the strategic planning, recruitment of personnel, and development of partnerships for the new college.