Faye Glenn Abdellah, a nursing research pioneer and the first woman and first nurse to serve as deputy surgeon general of the United States, died on February 24 at the age of 97. In a September 1980 interview, Abdellah told AJN that her interest in nursing began after witnessing the aftermath of the 1937 Hindenburg aircraft explosion, which occurred near her home in Lakehurst, New Jersey, when she and her brother rushed to help the victims. Abdellah went on to graduate from New Jersey's Ann May School of Nursing in 1942, and later earned her doctorate from Columbia University in New York City.
In 1949, Abdellah joined the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS); she would ultimately serve the U.S. government for more than 50 years. She was also a Korean War veteran, receiving five Distinguished Service medals. Abdellah worked her way up in the USPHS-from being an officer in the commissioned corps, to earning the rank of rear admiral in 1974, to being appointed chief nurse officer and deputy surgeon general in 1981. In these roles, she worked to influence policy on nursing home standards and to educate the public regarding HIV-AIDS, substance abuse, smoking, and alcoholism. Abdellah was also a prolific author who wrote six books and more than 150 papers. Her seminal research shifted the focus of nursing theory from being disease centered to patient centered. She also conducted pioneering research in progressive patient care, which led to the creation of the first coronary ICUs.
Abdellah retired from the USPHS in 1989 and went on to found the Graduate School of Nursing at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, serving as its first dean. Throughout the course of her career, Abdellah received 12 honorary degrees and over 90 major awards. She was named a Living Legend by the American Academy of Nursing in 1994, was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2000, and received the Sigma Theta Tau Lifetime Award in 2006.