Dr. Vitale is an associate professor in the Advanced Nursing Practice division and Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs at the Rutgers School of Nursing. As associate dean, she guides the strategic development, maintenance, and evaluation of formal academic-practice agreements with clinical and community partners to support student clinical education, as well as opportunities for faculty practice and community-based research. She teaches DNP Project courses while also assisting students with DNP Project development and writing of proposals, submissions to IRB, implementation of their projects, and synthesis of findings and implications on nursing practice. Her areas of expertise include all aspects of perinatal nursing including care of the laboring patient, fetal assessment during labor, assessment of fetal well-being, discomforts of labor, pain management, high-risk pregnancy complications, post-partum care, physical and psychological care of the post-partum patient, newborn assessment and care, common deviations of the newborn, deviations of normal childbearing, and women’s health and family planning. Prior to joining Rutgers University, Dr. Vitale was a nurse manager of maternal fetal medicine research, as well as the out-patient maternal fetal medicine and high-risk obstetrical practices at Saint Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ, and before that as clinical coordinator and assistant nurse manager at that hospital in the labor and delivery/perinatal evaluation and treatment units. Dr. Vitale earned her doctorate of nursing practice at the Rutgers School of Nursing. Recognizing how quality and safety in patient care can be influenced by nursing leadership, the focus of her DNP project was to evaluate the impact of a statewide mentoring program for nurse leaders on leadership practices and job satisfaction. Dr. Vitale has also earned a mini-MBA program certificate. She also holds a master’s degree in nursing from the University of Phoenix and a bachelor’s degree in nursing from The College of New Jersey.