Jean White

Jean was the Welsh Government’s Chief Nursing Officer for Wales between Oct 2010 – April 2021. With a nursing career that spans more than 40 years, she began her professional life as a general nurse in Swansea and has practised in Wales and London. She has held positions in nurse education, at the Welsh National Board (regulatory body), Health Professions Wales and as a civil servant in Welsh Government. Now retired from the civil service, she is a Visiting Professor of Nursing at University of South Wales, is a mentor in the Ethnic Minority Women in Healthcare Wales programme, is an expert nurse advisor to the World Health Organisation European Regional Office and is on the judging panel for the annual St David’s Awards.

Jean is Welsh by birth and grew up on the Gower Peninsula. She has numerous academic awards up to and including a PhD. Jean holds several academic and professional fellowships: Fellow of Bangor University, Fellow of Swansea University, Fellow of the Queen’s Nursing Institute, and Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Midwives. She was awarded a CBE in the 2017 Queen’s Birthday’s Honours list, became a Member of the Order of St John in 2018 and was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by Welsh Government in October 2021.