Harriet Werley

Harriet Helen Werley (12 October 1914 to 14 October 2002) was an American nurse who made early contributions to clinical research and to nursing informatics. Born in Berks County, Pennsylvania, she grew up poor and completed a diploma at the Jefferson Hospital School of Nursing in 1940, then joined the Army Nurse Corps and served in the Mediterranean in the Second World War. She became the first nurse researcher at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, and under her leadership the Army Nurse Corps moved to a baccalaureate-prepared workforce. After earning a doctorate in 1969 she taught at several universities, was a founding editor of Research in Nursing and Health, and in 1991 co-created the Nursing Minimum Data Set. The American Academy of Nursing named her a Living Legend in 1994.