Cristina García-Vivar, Associate Professor at the University of Navarra School of Nursing (Spain) has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the International Family Nursing Association (IFNA). She is the first Spanish appointee to the association's Board.

Passionate about family nursing, Professor Garcia-Vivar is honored by this responsibility: "I am committed to working with the IFNA to promote the importance of the practice of family nursing, education and research throughout the world." Among her objectives, she aims "to contribute making the association more visible, especially in Europe, where this specialty is less widely recognized."

The first Spanish member of the IFNA board

García-Vivar was elected by the members of the IFNA. The association has 216 members in 24 countries, and works to transform family health through family nursing practice, setting a global standard in the field; to exchange knowledge, practices and skills to improve the care provided in family nursing; and to provide leadership in family nursing through scholarship, education, and institutional partnership on all aspects of family nursing.

At the University of Navarra, Professor García-Vivar is the Associate Dean of Research in the School of Nursing, where she is also member of the Department of Community, Maternity & Pediatric Nursing. Her research is framed in the context of the family as the unit of care in chronic conditions as well as health promotion at different stages of life. She is currently the principal investigator of a project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Finance, focusing on the formation of nursing professionals working with families caring for dependent persons. She has published 38 papers in national and international journals, has edited four books and authored several book chapters.