This document provides biographies of several influential nursing theorists: 1) Myra Levine developed Conservation Theory and focused on problem solving and individualized patient care. 2) Callista Roy created the Roy Adaptation Model which views the person as an adaptive system. 3) Imogene King developed a conceptual system for nursing focusing on interaction and goal attainment. 4) Martha Rogers pioneered nursing theory development and focused on an integrative approach to nursing.

1. Myra estrin levine The nursing profession is continuously evolving and dynamic. Ever since Florence Nightingale started writing her notes on nursing, more theories and models about the nursing profession flourished during the last decade; one of these is Myra Levine’s Conservational Theory which was completed on 1973. Myra Estrin Levine (1920-1996) was born in Chicago, Illinois. She was the oldest of three children. She had one sister and one brother. Levine developed an interest in nursing because her father (who had gastrointestinal problems) was frequently ill and required nursing care on many occasions. Levine graduated from the Cook County School of Nursing in 1944 and obtained her BS in nursing from the University of Chicago in 1949. Following graduation, Levine worked as a private duty nurse, as a civilian nurse for the US Army, as a surgical nursing supervisor, and in nursing administration. After earning an MS in nursing at Wayne State University in 1962, she taught nursing at many different institutions (George, 2002) such as the University of Illinois at Chicago and Tel Aviv University in Israel. She authored 77 published articles which included “An Introduction to Clinical Nursing” with multiple publication years on 1969, 1973 & 1989. She also received an honorary doctorate from Loyola University in 1992. She died on 1996. Levine told others that she did not set out to develop a “nursing theory” but had wanted to find a way to teach the major concepts in medical-surgical nursing and attempt to teach associate degree students a new approach for daily nursing activities. Levine also wished to move away from nursing education practices that were strongly procedurally oriented and refocus on active problem solving and individualized patient care (George, 2002). Callista roy Sr. Callista Roy is a highly respected nurse theorist, writer, lecturer, researcher and teacher who currently holds the position of Professor and Nurse Theorist at the Boston College School of Nursing in Chestnut Hill, MA. She teaches courses on epistemology of nursing and strategies for creating knowledge at the master's and doctoral levels, as well as directing doctoral dissertation research. Her current scholarly interests include research involving families in the cognitive recovery of patients with mild head injury and nurse coaching as an intervention for patients after ambulatory surgery. In addition, she is also interested in conceptualizing and measuring coping, developing the philosophical basis of adaptation nursing including the distinction between veritivity and relativity, and in group projects on emerging nursing knowledge and practice outcomes. It has been said that Dr. Roy's name is one of the most recognized worldwide in nursing today, and that she is one of our greatest living thinkers. However, Dr. Roy maintains that her best work
is yet to come
and likely will be accomplished by one of her students. As a theorist, she often emphasizes her primary commitment to define and develop nursing knowledge and regards her work with the Roy Adaptation Model as a rich source of knowledge for clinical nursing. First conceptualized in the 1960s when she was a master's student, Dr. Roy's work on the Roy Adaptation Model for Nursing Practice is ongoing. With the beginning of the 21st Century, Dr. Roy has provided an expanded, values-based concept of adaptation, founded on insights related to the place of the person in the universe. She hopes her redefinition of adaptation, with its cosmic philosophical and scientific assumptions, will become the basis for developing knowledge that will make nursing a major social force in this new century. Dr. Roy credits her major influences in her personal and professional growth to her family, her religious commitment, and her teachers and mentors. Born at Los Angeles Country General Hospital on October 14, 1939 as the second child and first daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Fabien Roy, she received the middle name Callista, after Saint Callistus, Pope and martyr, from the Roman Catholic Calendar of the day on which she was born. A deep spirit of faith, hope, love and commitment to God and service to others was central in this family of seven boys and seven girls. Her mother was a licensed vocational nurse and instilled the values of always seeking to know more about people and their care and of selfless giving as a nurse. Dr. Roy notes that she also had excellent teachers in parochial schools, high school, and college. At age 14 she began working at a large general hospital, first as a pantry girl, then as a maid, and finally as a nurse's aid. After a soul-searching process of discernment, she decided to enter the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Carondelet, of which she has been a member for more than 40 years. Her college education began in a liberal arts program, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts with a major in nursing at Mount St. Mary's College, in Los Angeles. As a young Sister nurse, Sr. Callista worked in hospitals administered by the Sisters of St. Joseph in Idaho and Arizona. Here she expanded her love and concern for children, working in pediatric nursing and soon had the opportunity to enroll in a master's degree program in pediatric nursing at the University of California at Los Angeles in 1964. Through her studies in pediatric nursing, Sr. Callista had the significant opportunity of working with Dorothy E. Johnson, whom she regards as one of her most influential mentors. Other important mentors have included Ruth Wu, Connie Robinson and Barbara Smith Moran. Johnson's work with focusing knowledge for the discipline of nursing convinced Sr. Callista of the importance of describing the nature of nursing as a service to society and prompted her to begin developing her model with the goal of nursing being to promote adaptation. She joined the faculty of Mount St. Mary's College in 1966, teaching both pediatric and maternity nursing and began organizing course content according to a view of the person and family as adaptive systems. However, the following academic year she was forced to take a leave of absence since she was bed-ridden with an illness then diagnosed as encephalomyelitis. Twelve years later, she had successful surgery for removal of an acoustic neuroma. When she returned to Mount Saint Mary's College in the fall of 1968, she began actively introducing her ideas about Adaptation Nursing as the basis for an integrated nursing curriculum. The encouragement and support she received from Sr. Rebecca Doan, chair and founder of the department, was important in moving the development of the model forward and establishing Mount St. Mary's, her alma mater, as the flagship school in the development and implementation of the model. In 1971 she was made chair of the nursing department at the college. Dr. Roy completed her PhD in sociology at University of California, Los Angeles. By 1981, the teaching of the model had become widespread and Dr. Roy and her colleagues from Mount St. Mary's College provided consultation for at least 30 other schools on implementation of the model in nursing curricula from the associate to doctoral levels. In 1987 it was estimated that over 100,000 nurses had graduated from schools emphasizing the Roy Adaptation Model. During this time, Dr. Roy also served on the faculty at the University of Portland in Oregon were she helped to establish a master's of science program in nursing. She gained a reputation as an international speaker and accepted commitments to speak throughout North America and close to 30 other countries over the past 30 years on topics related to the Roy Adaptation Model, nursing theory, research, curriculum, clinical practice and professional trends for the future. Her books have been translated into twelve different languages. Dr. Roy also had the opportunity to be a clinical nurse scholar in a two-year postdoctoral program in Neuroscience Nursing at University of California at San Francisco. She selected this field to develop her understanding of the holistic person, especially as an adaptive system, and because of her familiarity with this clinical area as a result of her own neurological illnesses. Here her research became increasingly focused on the cognitive recovery of head injury patients. After completing her postdoctoral work, Dr. Roy began concurrently teaching graduate nursing theory courses at the University of San Francisco and at Boston College. Although she enjoyed and appreciated the challenge of a full-time clinical research position in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of California at San Francisco, Dr. Roy also knew that academic nursing education provided opportunities to share her convictions about the integration of theory, practice, and research. Her opportunity to further influence new nurse scholars was provided in 1987 when she accepted a full-time faculty position as professor and nurse theorist to help develop and implement a PhD in nursing program at Boston College. She was also granted a Fulbright Senior Scholar Award from the Australian-American Educational Foundation for travel, allowing her to speak and dialogue with colleagues in several regions of Australia in 1988. Dr. Roy is still best known for developing and continually updating the Roy Adaptation Model as a framework for theory, practice, and research in nursing. Two recent publications that Dr. Roy considers of great significance are The Roy Adaptation Model (second edition) written with Heather Andrews (Appleton & Lange) and The Roy Adaptation Model-Based Research: Twenty-five Years of Contributions to Nursing Science being published as a research monograph by Sigma Theta Tau. The latter is a critical analysis of the past 25 years of model-based literature, which includes 163 studies published in 44 English-speaking journals, dissertations and thesis. This project was completed by the Boston-Based Adaptation in Nursing Research Society (BBARNS), a group of scholars founded by Dr. Roy in the interest of advancing nursing practice by developing basic and clinical nursing knowledge based on the Roy Adaptation Model. The group has recently been renamed the Roy Adaptation Association. One of Dr. Roy's major activities has included co-chairing Knowledge Conferences hosted by the Boston College School of Nursing in 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2001. She has also played a key role in at least 30 research projects. Her current clinical research continues her long-time interest in neuroscience. Since her days as a nursing student in the 1960s, Dr. Roy has been fascinated by the neurosciences, which she calls
the frontier of knowledge development.
She is currently extending her research on cognitive adaptation and nursing interventions with patients who sustained mild head injuries to include families as collaborators with the nurse in promoting cognitive recovery. Dr. Roy has been the recipient of many awards, including The National League for Nursing Martha Rogers Award for advancing nursing science and Sigma Theta Tau International Founders Award for contributions to professional practice. She has also received honorary doctorates from Eastern Michigan University, Alverno College in Milwaukee, WI, and from St. Joseph's College in Standish, ME. In addition, the Sister Callista Roy Lectureship was established at the Department of Nursing at Mount St. Mary's College in Los Angeles. The Roy Knowledge Institute has been established by the alumni/ae of Boston College PhD in Nursing Program. Dr. Roy has also received the outstanding Alumna Award and Carondelet Medal from Mount St. Mary's, her alma mater, where she holds a concurrent position as Research Professor in Nursing. In addition to her scholarly work, community, family and friends, Dr. Roy enjoys music, art, and time for private prayer and reflection, especially in areas where the beauty of nature surrounds her. Imogene king Imogene King( January 30, 1923 – December 24, 2007) was universally recognized as a pioneer of nursing theory development. Her interacting conceptual system for nursing and her theory of goal attainment have been included in every major nursing theory text, are taught to thousands of nursing students, form the basis of nursing education programs, and are implemented in a variety of service settings. Dr. Martha Elizabeth Rogers 1914 - 1994 Martha Elizabeth Rogers was born on May 12, 1914; sharing a birthday with Florence Nightingale. She began her academic career when she entered the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in 1931 where she remained for 2 years.she entered nursing school at Knoxville General Hospital in September 1933. She received her nursing diploma in 1936 and her Bachelor of Science degree in Public Health Nursing form the George Peabody College in Nashville in 1937 and then became a public health nurse in rural Michigan where she stayed for 2 years before returning to further study. In 1945 she earned her master’s degree from Teacher’s College Columbia University, New York. Rogers was appointed Head of the Division of Nursing at New York University in 1954. In about 1963 Martha edited a journal called Nursing Science. It was during that time that Rogers was beginning to formulate ideas about the publication of her third book An Introduction to the Theoretical Basis of Nursing (Rogers, 1970).Rogers officially retired as Professor and Head of the Division of Nursing in 1975 after 21 years of service. In 1979 she became Professor Emeritus and continued to have an active role in the development of nursing and the SUHB up until the time of her death on March 13, 1994. Margaret newman Margaret Newman felt a call to nursing for a number of years prior to her decision to enter the field. During that time she became the primary caregiver for her mother, who became ill with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Upon entering nursing at the University of Tennessee, Memphis, Dr. Newman knew almost immediately that nursing was right for her. The phenomenon of the human being in the complexity of health and illness was challenging and demanding, as she has said, of the “best of my intellect as well as the utmost of my humanness” (Newman, 1986; 1994). A year after receiving her baccalaureate degree in nursing she entered graduate study in medical-surgical nursing at the University of California, San Francisco, where she received her master’s degree in 1964. During the three-year interim before resuming graduate study, she served in a joint capacity as director of nursing of a clinical research center and assistant professor of nursing at the University of Tennessee in Memphis. The next ten years were spent in graduate study (Ph.D., 1971) and teaching (1971-1977) at New York University. She began to develop her ideas and research about nursing theory as both a student and colleague of Martha Rogers. In the fall of 1977, she assumed the position of professor-in-charge of graduate study in nursing at Penn State. In response to an invitation to speak at a conference on nursing theory in New York in 1978, Dr. Newman pulled together her ideas on a theory of health and presented them for the first time. At the same time she was pursuing research on the relationship of movement, time and consciousness, and was developing the theory of health as expanding consciousness. In 1984 she assumed a position as nurse theorist at the University of Minnesota, continuing the development of the theory and related research with the assistance of graduate students. She retired from teaching in 1996. Dr. Newman is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and has been honored as an outstanding alumnus by both the University of Tennessee and New York University. She received the Distinguished Scholar in Nursing Award from New York University, the Founders Award for Excellence in Nursing Research from Sigma Theta Tau International, and the E. Louise Grant Award for Nursing Excellence from the University of Minnesota. Zeta Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International has established the Margaret Newman Scholar award to support doctoral students whose research extends Dr. Newman’s theory. Dr. Newman has been included in Who’s Who in American Women since 1983 and was appointed to Who’s Who in America in 1996. Helen erickson Helen Lorraine (Cook) Erickson (born 1936) is the primary author of the theory, Modeling and Role-Modeling. Her work, co-authored with Tomlin, E. and Swain, M.A., was derived from years of clinical practice, was first published in 1983 by Prentice Hall and later by the EST Company. In 2006 she edited a book that provides additional, in-depth information that describes relations among soul, spirit, and human form. This 522 page book contains chapters authored by several Modeling and Role-Modeling scholars. Three other books are in process. A society for the advancement of Modeling and Role-Modeling was established in 1985 at the University of Michigan. The Society meets biannually and provides information regarding related research, publications, etc. Erickson was married to Lance Erickson in 1957 in Clare, Michigan. Together they live in Cedar Park, Texas where she holds the title of Professor Emeritus, The University of Texas at Austin. Jean watson Jean Watson was born in a small, close-knit town in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia in the 1940s. Watson graduated from the Lewis Gale School of Nursing in Roanoke, Virginia, in 1961. She continued her nursing studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, earning a B.S. in 1964, an M.S. in psychiatric and mental health nursing in 1966, and a Ph.D. in educational psychology and counseling in 1973. Watson is well known for her Theory of Human/Transpersonal Caring. Dr. Jean Watson is a Distinguished Professor of Nursing and former Dean of the School of Nursing at the University of Colorado, as well as founder of the Center for Human Caring. She is known for her work as a theorist, scholar and educator (Lambda Chi Research Conference, 2000). Dr. Watson has earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in nursing and psychiatric-mental health nursing and holds her PhD in educational psychology and counseling. She is a widely published author and received many awards and honors, including, but limited to several honor doctoral degrees. She has written many books, and has more than 100 publications. The Watson theory of caring is studied and taught in nursing education all over the world. (Jean Watson and The Theory of Human Caring, UCHSC). Mary Ann Swaine A lot of information is found on the conduct record for Mary Ann Swaine, but her indent list gives us her family back in the old country, England. Her father is Job, Joseph, Josh or John, she had 4 brothers Thomas, John, Uriah and George and 4 sisters Mary, Louisa, Lavinia and Jane. Her native place was Maidstone, Kent, England. She was born around 1821. You would think this would be enough to go further back in England, but so far I have not found her family in Maidstone at all. Mary Ann is described as a housemaid five foot and half an inch with a fresh complexion, a round visage and head, dark brown hair and eyebrows, a medium height forehead, hazel eyes, a short nose and small mouth and chin. From these details you could imagine what my ancestor looked like!! She also had tattoos on her left shoulder C J? J? S U? S By 1843, she had had a lot of temptations put in front of her as a housemaid. She was finally convicted of stealing a watch at the Maidstone Boro 2nd Session on 26 June 1843. For this felony she was sent to Van Diemens Land for 15 years. A bit harsh you think!! But looking at her previous record, you find she was addicted to drink, had been in service for the last three years, had been a prostitute and been in prison twice before, she had been caught stealing a watch previously but acquitted and had been given 7 days for being disorderly. She arrived in Van Diemens Land on 7 April 1844 having been on the ship Emma Eugenia (2). Whilst here she was given 6 months probation and became a second class convict on 12 November 1844, then a third class on 29 April 1845. On 26 August 1845, she married William TEDMAN (had been a convict but was now free) at St Georges Church, Battery Point, Hobart. She was given her ticket of leave on 15 July 1851. She spent some time at the Ross Female factory from 1 June 1852, and on 2 February 1853 she unlawfully threatened the life of a woman and was given one month's hard labour at the factory. She was recommended for a conditional pardon 21 February 1854 and approved 19 December 1854.