Paula Graling, DNP, RN, FAAN, Vice President, Nursing, Surgical Services/Interim Vice President, Nursing, Cancer Services, Inova Health System

Paula Graling is the executive nurse leader within a triad model service line structure overseeing five hospitals and six free standing ambulatory surgery centers with approximately 125 operating rooms.

She received her BSN (1982) and her MSN (1996) as an oncology clinical nurse specialist from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. She completed her doctoral studies (2010) at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, with a focus on perioperative patient safety and the connection between culture, communication and perioperative outcomes.

Graling has a passion for education, innovation and preparing the next generation of nursing team members for practice in our complex, ever-changing health care environment. She is a past president of the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) 2006–2007 and a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.