Dr. Juan M. González, a professor of clinical and program director at the University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies, has been selected for induction into the American Academy of Nursing 2025 Class of New Fellows. The announcement was made June 18. “Induction into the Academy represents the highest honor in nursing,” stated Linda D. Scott, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FADLN, FNAP, FAAN, American Academy of Nursing (Academy) president.
The induction ceremony is scheduled to take place October 18 in Washington, DC, during the Academy’s annual Health Policy Conference, themed “Impact Through Integrity and Trust: Our Role as Navigators and Translators.”
“I am truly honored to be inducted into such fellowship and could not have done it without the support of my colleagues and Dean Hudson Santos,” said Dr. González, a triple board-certified nurse practitioner, certified nurse educator and certified emergency nurse. “Through this journey I have been blessed with the mentorship of Dr. Johis Ortega and supported by Dean Santos. It really does take a village, and I am eager to contribute my expertise to this global village of Academy Fellows.”
Born in Cuba, Dr. González started his nursing career in South Miami Hospital’s emergency department in 2006. He quickly distinguished himself there, twice earning the Florence Nightingale Service Excellence Award. In 2011, he was named the hospital’s ER Nurse of the Year and began teaching clinical skills at the University of Miami. While rising through the ranks of academia, he earned MSN, DNP, and PhD degrees from Barry University, and a post-master’s Family Nurse Practitioner certificate from the University of Miami.
Dr. González’s leadership roles have included Family Nurse Practitioner program director from 2015 to 2020 and Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program director from 2022 to present. In 2019, he won the University’s award for Outstanding Graduate Program Director of the Year for his transformative leadership of the FNP program. He has supported over 200 graduate students and mentored 45 disadvantaged and minority students, achieving a 95.6% graduation rate and 100% certification pass rate. Students have twice voted Dr. González to receive the annual Clinical Faculty Teaching Excellence Award and have three times voted him as their Teacher of the Year.
In 2020, Dr. González completed the prestigious Duke-Johnson & Johnson Nurse Leadership Program and two years later was inducted as a Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners for improving health care access in Latin America and the Caribbean. Dr. González’s nurse-led, community-based mobile health clinics have positively impacted over 4,000 patients and more than 500 advanced practice nursing (APN) students—a proven model of care adopted by Project Medishare for its Haiti relief operations, according to Dr. González’s career mentor and primary nominator, Dr. Johis Ortega.
“I have had the privilege of working side by side with Dr. Gonzalez for over 15 years, witnessing his profound evolution as a visionary international leader in nursing education, workforce development, and health care delivery,” said Dr. Ortega, the school’s associate dean for Hemispheric and Global Initiatives and a professor of clinical. “He is deeply invested in empowering the next generation of health care leaders to be culturally competent, resilient, and resourceful in the face of emerging health care challenges worldwide.”
Dr. González’s pivotal role in elevating diagnostic capacity and expanding the clinical competencies of providers spans the hemisphere. As a Visiting Professor at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, he pioneered curricula to prepare Latin America’s first-ever cohort of advanced practice nurses, he conducted faculty development and provider clinical training programs in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and he designed and implemented an Advanced Provider Ultrasound Course benefitting hundreds of health professionals worldwide. Additionally, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. González again demonstrated extraordinary leadership by securing grant funding to address the crisis in the Dominican Republic. Underscoring his commitment to service and rapid response in times of crisis, he mobilized community partners and students in Miami during this period, as well, providing essential care to marginalized populations affected by the pandemic while continuing his hospital work in unprecedented times.
Dr. González’s scholarship includes 58 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, and abstracts focused on elevating advanced nursing education and emergency practice, as well as 30 national and international speaking engagements and hands-on skills workshops. As co-principal investigator and lead nurse for an interdisciplinary initiative on patient and provider eczema management education, he developed—and translated into Spanish—educational modules for providers, secured research funding to scale out health education and training that impacted hundreds of families and providers in the U.S. and Dominican Republic, and contributed to a book for patients living with eczema recently published by Johns Hopkins University Press.
His other recent accolades include the 2025 Innovative Technology Impact Award from the Florida Nurses Association, the American Academy of Emergency Nurse Practitioners’ Excellence in Leadership Award, the National Hispanic Nurses Association, Miami Chapter Clinical Leader Award, and “20 Under 40” recognition from the Emergency Nurses Association for extraordinary contributions to the workplace, community, and specialty. “Dr. González exemplifies the best qualities of a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing,” said SONHS Dean Hudson Santos, Ph.D., RN, FABMR, FAAN. “Just as he has for the past two decades, I am confident Dr. González will continue shaping policy, expanding academic pathways, and strengthening clinical training models across regional, national, and international settings for decades to come.”
The AAN 2025 Class of Fellows—from 42 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and 12 countries—includes school alumni Drs. Monir Almotairy (M.S.N. ’15), Balkys Bivins (B.S.N., M.S.N.), and Rick García (B.S.N. ’95). In addition to Dean Santos and Dr. Ortega, previously inducted Fellows on the school’s faculty include Drs. Rosina Cianelli, Giovanna Cecilia De Oliveira, Joseph De Santis, Cynthia Foronda, Yui Matsuda, and Mary McKay.
Learn more about the Academy. Learn more about the School of Nursing and Health Studies.
