We at Yale University School of Nursing are privileged to have the brightest and most committed students entering the nursing profession today. Our Graduate Entry students enrich YSN with their unique backgrounds, and our RN students bring a wealth of experience to the classroom and clinic. YSN PhD students share a passion for developing the evidence to drive nursing care and health policy.

Students at YSN are at the heart of our mission, "better health care for all people." Their commitment to changing health care for the underserved--wherever they may be, locally in New Haven, across the U.S., or around the world--is truly inspirational for our faculty and staff. Because they come to YSN with such varied experiences and abilities, our students are not limited by one view of what is possible. They make use of their gifts to creatively solve problems in health care.

In this issue of Yale Nursing Matters we focus on our remarkable students. Their profiles will tell you a bit about their backgrounds and where they are going. Most importantly, they tell you about why they came to Yale to study nursing and their commitment to our profession. I hope you will be as inspired by their stories as we are every day.

We live in tumultuous economic times. And, as with the rest of the world, YSN will face some difficult decisions. Nonetheless, we know that our students will be needed more than ever, as clinicians, and as the next generation of leaders and faculty. The looming nursing shortage, caused primarily by the aging of the nursing professoriate, assures the importance of recruiting and retaining these extraordinary young people. If you would like to help us assure that we can always support such students at YSN, I hope you will let me know.

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