Mary Chiarella

Professor Mary Chiarella is a Professor Emerita and former Professor of Nursing at the Sydney Nursing School, University of Sydney. With over 40 years of experience, she is an internationally recognized leader in nursing services, law, and ethics. Her research focuses on safety & quality in healthcare, legal aspects of nursing, and regulatory frameworks. She pioneered the Doctor of Midwifery program at UTS and contributed to nurse practitioner policies in NSW. Current projects include an ARC-funded study comparing health practitioner complaint systems. She has held roles such as NSW Chief Nursing Officer and Chair of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council. Awards include scholarships and prizes in law and midwifery.

Education & Qualifications: Nursing, Midwifery, and Law qualifications. Completed a PhD in Nursing (1994) with significant scholarship support.

Research Interests: Legal and ethical issues in healthcare delivery, nursing regulation, competence assurance, and policy development. Projects include international reviews of nurse-led primary health care models and evaluations of regulatory systems.

Publications Trend: Recent work emphasizes legal challenges in end-of-life care, healthcare complaint systems, and ethical dilemmas in practice. Her research bridges law, ethics, and clinical governance to improve healthcare policies.

• Awards:
  • 1994-95 Scholarships totaling $39,500
  • 1984 Stuart Gershman Memorial Prize
  • 1977 Edna Shaw Memorial Prize
• Grants: ARC Linkage Project (2012) on health practitioner complaints.

Advising & Teams: Supervised over 20 PhD/Master’s students, focusing on nursing practice, ethics, and policy. Active in editorial roles for journals like Collegian and Journal of Advanced Nursing.

Labs/Teams: Based at Sydney Nursing School, collaborates with institutions like WHO and Health Workforce Australia on global health initiatives.