What impact can one person make?
It’s a question that has guided Kristen Starnes-Ott, PhD, throughout her career, from critical care nursing and nurse anesthesia to research, education, workforce development, and now leadership of The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) School of Nursing.
Today, that question is shaping how she approaches one of nursing's biggest challenges: preparing the next generation of nurses for a profession that looks very different than it did just a few years ago.
“My main focus and my drive are preparing the next generation of nurses at every level, from undergraduate education all the way through doctoral programs,” Starnes-Ott said.
SONSHINE leads the way
Appointed senior vice president and dean of the School of Nursing and nursing workforce pipeline development leader for UTMB Health in June 2026, she is helping guide the school through a period marked by workforce shortages, emerging technologies, and rapid changes in healthcare delivery.
A key part of that effort is SONSHINE, the School of Nursing’s strategic plan for 2026-2029.
Shaped by the contributions of faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community partners, SONSHINE reflects a shared vision for the future of nursing education. The plan prioritizes sustainable growth, high-impact research, innovative leadership, nursing workforce development, and educational excellence.
Starnes-Ott's vision for the future is rooted in more than 30 years of nursing experience and a national reputation as an academic and clinical leader focused on workforce development. She joined UTMB in 2020 as vice dean for academic affairs and the inaugural Betty Akins Chair of Nursing amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a national nursing shortage, and significant transformation across healthcare.
Maximizing her impact
Flexibility, curiosity, passion, and a willingness to embrace new opportunities have shaped her career from the beginning.
After completing her undergraduate degree in biology, Starnes-Ott began to question her original career plans.
“I spent one semester in a bacterial testing lab, and from that decided I needed to interact more with people,” Starnes-Ott said. “I was not going to find my calling in a lab with beakers and petri dishes.”
Once she chose nursing, she graduated from Auburn University, which had one of the few accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing programs at the time, and began working as a registered nurse in critical care.
“I really didn’t discover nurse anesthesia until I was working in an intensive care unit and a patient came back from the operating room,” Starnes-Ott said. “I noticed the person giving a report on the patient had a different credential on her badge. We started talking about nurse anesthesia and I was hooked from that point forward.”
After gaining a few more years of critical care nursing experience, she entered the master’s program in nurse anesthesia at the University of Southern California. After graduating and passing the nurse anesthesia boards, she started working as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
She loved clinical work and was initially skeptical when approached about moving into education.
“I thought, I’ll try it. I’ll dabble in it,” Starnes-Ott said. “After a few months working as a part-time instructor in a nurse anesthesia program, I felt like I was making a different type of impact through teaching and education, so I shifted my career toward education while maintaining my clinical practice.”
She was also drawn to research and earned her doctorate in nursing research at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Since completing her doctorate, much of her funded research has focused on workforce readiness and pipeline programming.
“My compass the entire time has been ‘What impact can I make? What can I contribute at each level of nursing education?’” Starnes-Ott said.
Innovation forward
Right now, staying ahead of the curve is critical, whether through workforce readiness initiatives or the development of AI tools, such as a custom chatbot for nursing students currently being developed by a School of Nursing team.
“It’s very important to me that we are intentional about preparing the nursing workforce for healthcare today and tomorrow, which is very different from what it was even five years ago,” Starnes-Ott said. “Nursing is very different. We’ve led through a pandemic that forever changed healthcare and healthcare delivery. We now have AI within healthcare. We must be able to not only respond to those changes, but also to lead in all healthcare delivery settings.”
Starnes-Ott said it’s critical to address nursing workforce needs by better preparing nursing students for the challenges they will face upon graduation and throughout their careers.
The American Nurses Association reports early-career professionals face the highest attrition rates, with roughly 18% of newly licensed registered nurses quitting within their first year and up to 33% leaving the profession entirely within their first two years.
“It’s a stressful environment to work in,” Starnes-Ott said. “It is as emotionally draining as it is physically draining.”
The UTMB School of Nursing has implemented simulations and virtual reality experiences to teach coping techniques for challenging situations, such as caring for patients with difficult diagnoses and supporting families after the death of a loved one. Additional simulations are focused on self-care and maintaining wellness in a stressful profession. Combined with enhanced employee resources across the health system, these efforts aim to help prevent burnout and keep nurses healthy, engaged, and resilient throughout their careers.
Starnes-Ott believes strong mentorship is an essential part of nursing education and leadership that can help nurses find their own paths, just as she discovered hers.
National Leadership
Among her many accomplishments, Starnes-Ott launched two post-BSN-to-DNP nurse anesthesia programs in Texas and successfully secured Council on Accreditation approval. She also led the early adoption of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Essentials framework and guided the School of Nursing through a successful Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education reaccreditation in 2024.
Her research portfolio includes more than $5 million in funded projects focused on provider communication, patient safety, and nursing workforce pipelines. In addition to her scholarly work, Starnes-Ott was named the 2025 Mentor of the Year by the Texas Association of Nurse Anesthetists.
Starnes-Ott remains active in state and national leadership, currently serving as president of the Texas Nurses Foundation. She is a fellow of both the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology and the National Academy of Practice.