King’s College London’s Dr. Siobhan O’Connor Appointed United Nations Liaison for Sigma Nursing

Dr Siobhan O’Connor, a Senior Lecturer in the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care, was recently appointed as a liaison to the United Nations (UN) by Sigma Nursing.

Sigma is a global scholarly nursing association that aims to develop nursing leaders to improve healthcare globally. Dr O’Connor has been an active member for more than 10 years as part of the Phi Mu chapter in England.

She joins a leadership team of nine from Sigma Nursing who advocate for nursing on behalf of Sigma at the UN and within the NGO community.

During her three-year tenure, Dr O’Connor will attend various UN events including the World Health Assembly and the UN General Assembly to promote nursing and the profession’s contribution to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The voluntary role also involves mentoring Sigma’s UN youth representatives to enable them to grow as nursing leaders.

With a multidisciplinary background in nursing and informatics, Dr O’Connor will stimulate dialogue in her role as liaison to the UN on a range of SDGs including health and wellbeing, quality education and gender equality.

I am honoured and grateful to join Sigma’s Liaison to the UN team. There’s a wealth of expertise from nursing leaders across the world such as Charlotte McArdle, the former Chief Nursing Officer for Northern Ireland, and Dr Jasper Erwin Tolarba, the Chair of Nursing Practice, Education, and Research at Nuvance Health System and Sacred Heart University in New York and Connecticut, USA. Together, we will represent Sigma at the highest levels of global collaboration by advocating for nursing at a range of UN events, programs and activities to ensure nursing remains central to healthcare on the world stage.

Dr Siobhan O’Connor, Senior Lecturer, Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care