Dr. Daria Waszak Appointed Executive Director of the New Jersey Collaborating Center for Nursing (NJCCN)
NJCCN Board Unanimously Approves Leadership Transition, Effective July 1, 2025
Newark, New Jersey (June 17, 2025) – The New Jersey Collaborating Center for Nursing (NJCCN) is proud to share the distinct honor and pleasure of announcing the appointment of Daria Waszak, DNP, RN, CNE, COHN-S, as the new Executive Director, effective July 1, 2025. She was approved by the NJCCN Board on Friday and will assume this role on July 1, 2025.
Dr. Waszak joined NJCCN as Assistant Director on July 15, 2024. During her time at the Center, she has been actively engaged in the acute care nurse, school nurse, and APP transition into practice program in the implementation and evaluation phases of these initiatives. She serves as Co-Investigator in the NJ Department of Labor and Workforce Development Growing Apprenticeships in Nontraditional Sectors (GAINS) grants to help support these programs.
She has published results of these programs in peer-reviewed journals and presented at state and national conferences. Dr. Wasak also serves as Co-Investigator on a funded study by the NCSBN on the Exploration of the Integration of LPN Workforce into NJ Acute Care Settings. She has participated in the data reports generated by the Center this year and testified on behalf of the Center on workforce bills, sharing the data from our reports to help legislators make informed decisions.
Dr. Waszak represents the National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers on the NCSBN Burnout and Long-Term Care sub-analysis team and on the National Nursing Workforce Survey Team in 2026. She serves on the Communications and Marketing Committee for the National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers. She will be joining the Vizient/AACN Nurse Residency Program Advisory Board in July 2025. At a state level, she serves on the Advocacy Committee for the Organization of Nurse Leaders of New Jersey (ONL-NJ).
In addition to her role at the Center, she is teaching in the Advanced Nursing Practice Division at the Rutgers School of Nursing. Dr. Waszak was previously Associate Dean and Associate Professor with Felician University. Prior to her role in academe, she was a manager at Pfizer’s Global Environmental Health and Safety Division. In this role, she served as a health consultant and provided staff development as well as data management, adherence, surveillance, and analysis for their employees at their facilities globally.
Dr. Waszak earned her DNP in Health Systems Executive Leadership from the University of Pittsburgh, a MS in Nursing Administration/Occupational and Environmental Health from the University of California, Los Angeles and her BS in Nursing from San Diego State University. She is board-certified as a Nurse Educator, certified eTeacher, and Apple Teacher with a clinical background in occupational health, forensic and emergency nursing.
Please join NJCCN in welcoming Dr. Waszak in her new role. NJCCN’s Executive Director, Edna Cadmus, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, shares: “I know she will continue to carry out the mission and vision of NJCCN by continuing to offer evidence-based workforce solutions and advocating for the nursing workforce of New Jersey.”
About NJCCN
NJCCN’s mission is to be the dominant voice on nursing workforce solutions in NJ. The center serves as a future-oriented research and development organization to develop and disseminate objective information and provide an ongoing strategy for the allocation of state resources directed toward the nursing workforce (NJ P.I. 2002,c116). Additional information about NJCCN is available online at http://www.njccn.org.