{"id":8380,"date":"2024-10-16T15:01:24","date_gmt":"2024-10-16T15:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/?p=6463"},"modified":"2026-01-22T09:34:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T14:34:27","slug":"from-aspiring-lawyer-to-nursing-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/2024\/10\/16\/from-aspiring-lawyer-to-nursing-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"From Aspiring Lawyer to Nursing Leader"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.kadence-column8380_93f98d-ff > .kt-inside-inner-col{padding-right:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-bottom:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-left:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);}.kadence-column8380_93f98d-ff > .kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column8380_93f98d-ff > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column8380_93f98d-ff > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column8380_93f98d-ff > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column8380_93f98d-ff > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column8380_93f98d-ff > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column8380_93f98d-ff{position:relative;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column8380_93f98d-ff > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}@media all and (max-width: 991px){.kadence-column8380_93f98d-ff > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column8380_93f98d-ff\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\">\n<p>Wilmington University alumna <strong>Dr. Diane Juliano<\/strong> likes to say that her job is \u201cto take care of the people who take care of the patients.\u201d She was promoted to that job \u2014 regional chief nursing officer for Jefferson Health East \u2014 in January of last year. Her appointment was the culmination of nearly three decades of dedication and achievement in a profession she loves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI often say becoming a nurse was the best decision I ever made,\u201d Dr. Juliano says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It wasn\u2019t her first choice. \u201cWhen I was younger, I actually wanted to be a lawyer, and ultimately a judge,\u201d she says. But by the time she graduated from Arthur P. Schalick High School in Pittsgrove, New Jersey, in 1993, she had decided on Physical Therapy, and she enrolled in that program at Stockton University.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But after one semester, she says, \u201cI realized that I wanted to switch gears to get out into the healthcare workforce faster, so I decided to transfer to a two-year nursing program (at Cumberland County Community College in Vineland).\u201d &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After receiving an associate degree from Cumberland County, she went back to Stockton for two years to get her Nursing bachelor\u2019s. When she graduated, she vowed that she would someday earn a doctorate. But first, of course, she needed a master\u2019s degree, and that brought her to Wilmington University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At that time \u2014 January of 2004 \u2014 she had already become clinical director at Cooper University Health Care in Camden. \u201cSome people I worked with at Cooper had gone to Wilmington and really enjoyed their time there,\u201d says Dr. Juliano.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Their recommendation sent her to the University website, where she found that it offered affordable tuition and, more important, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wilmu.edu\/health\/health-care-administration.aspx\">a dual major in Nursing and Business Administration<\/a>. Designed for nurses seeking expanded leadership roles, the program fit her needs perfectly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The commute from her home was about an hour, and classes were conducted for four hours, two nights a week. Combined with her full-time job, it made for a packed schedule, but Dr. Juliano says it was well worth the effort, and she received her master\u2019s degree in May of 2005.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI thoroughly enjoyed my time at WilmU,\u201d she says. \u201cMy instructors were knowledgeable, supportive, and<br>geared learning toward both the working professional and the traditional student. When I graduated, I felt I was well prepared to take on professional challenges. I recommended the school to many of my colleagues \u2014 and they did, and had the same wonderful experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2018, she fulfilled her vow by earning a doctorate in Nursing Administration from La Salle University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2019, after 11 years at Cooper, Dr. Juliano moved to Jefferson Health, in Washington Township, New Jersey, where her career has continued to blossom.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn my nearly five years with Jefferson,\u201d she says, \u201cI\u2019ve received so many opportunities to improve upon my leadership skills through executive coaching and numerous educational offerings, including the 2022 AONL Nurse Executive Fellowship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The fellowship enabled her to participate in the American Organization for Nursing Leadership\u2019s nine-month program, which is designed to develop critical executive competencies to lead, influence and inspire a nursing workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-ad2f72ca wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote wu-blockquote-simple is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;I thoroughly enjoyed my time at WilmU . . . I recommended the school to many of my colleagues \u2014 and they did, and had the same wonderful experience.\u201d &#8212; <em>Dr. Diane Juliano<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>She is also a graduate of the Wharton Executive Education Program and has presented both nationally and locally, including being a keynote speaker.&nbsp;She is Six Sigma trained and has received numerous awards for her academic excellence and leadership. She\u2019s a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, American Nurses Association, AONL, and ONL-NJ, where she serves on the board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite all of these academic and professional successes, Dr. Juliano\u2019s most important achievement was helping to save her father\u2019s life by becoming his kidney donor four years ago.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She was able to qualify as a donor because of her decision in 2015 to undergo bariatric surgery. She lost more than 70 pounds in the first year after the surgery and was maintaining that weight in 2018, when her 65-year-old father, <strong>Charles Macho<\/strong>, was diagnosed with end-stage renal disease. He started dialysis immediately, but needed a kidney transplant in order to live a full and healthy life.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Juliano immediately stepped forward. \u201cThere was no questioning it,\u201d she said in an article published on the Jefferson Health website. \u201cI knew I would do whatever I could to help my father get better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The lab work and tests to ensure minimal risk of complications showed that she would be an ideal donor. But there was a complication: her father was not at an acceptable weight for the transplant. So, following in his daughter\u2019s footsteps, he too underwent bariatric surgery. The operation was successful, and he lost the required weight. But by then, COVID-19 restrictions were in place and the kidney transplant was postponed for several months.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, in September of 2020, the operation was performed, and Dr. Juliano\u2019s father was able to go off dialysis. Today, she says: \u201cWe both are doing well. My father had a stroke in January 2023 but has since recovered and is resuming his normal activities, including fishing in Key West. And I\u2019m in the best shape of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Juliano and her husband, <strong>Greg<\/strong>, live in North Wildwood. He and his two brothers make up The Juliano Brothers, a popular band with gigs up and down the Jersey coast. She says she and her husband enjoy \u201canything to do with the shore,\u201d as well as trips to Key West, where the band also performs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even then, though, she makes sure to be available for members of her team. \u201cI pride myself on being an advocate for both patients and the staff I get to lead,\u201d she says. \u201cBeing a transparent, accessible, and supportive leader is what I hope resonates with my team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u2014Bob Yearick<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wilmington University alumna Dr. Diane Juliano likes to say that her job is \u201cto take care of the people who take care of the patients.\u201d&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":8426,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[145,135],"tags":[8,716,328],"class_list":["post-8380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-news","category-magazine","tag-college-of-nursing-and-health-sciences","tag-magazine-fall-2024","tag-nursing-students"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":145,"label":"ALUMNI NEWS"},{"value":135,"label":"MAGAZINE"}],"post_tag":[{"value":8,"label":"College of Nursing and Health Sciences"},{"value":716,"label":"Magazine Fall 2024"},{"value":328,"label":"nursing students"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Wilmington-University-Dr-Diane-Juliano-747x480.jpg",747,480,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Rachel Marchione","author_link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/author\/rachel\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":145,"name":"ALUMNI NEWS","slug":"alumni-news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":702,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":113,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":145,"category_count":113,"category_description":"","cat_name":"ALUMNI NEWS","category_nicename":"alumni-news","category_parent":0},{"term_id":135,"name":"MAGAZINE","slug":"magazine","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":692,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":431,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":135,"category_count":431,"category_description":"","cat_name":"MAGAZINE","category_nicename":"magazine","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":8,"name":"College of Nursing and Health Sciences","slug":"college-of-nursing-and-health-sciences","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":565,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":110,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":716,"name":"Magazine Fall 2024","slug":"magazine-fall-2024","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1273,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":26,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":328,"name":"nursing students","slug":"nursing-students","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":885,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8380"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8380\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13493,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8380\/revisions\/13493"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}