Education

Brenda S. Lessen received her B.S.N. at Illinois Wesleyan in 1989. In 1995 she earned her M.S. as a maternal-child community nurse specialist at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she earned her Ph.D. in neonatal science in 2008.

Background

In addition to Illinois Wesleyan, Dr. Lessen has taught at the Methodist College of Nursing in Peoria, Richland Community College in Decatur and Mennonite College of Nursing in Normal. As a registered professional nurse, she has worked in the neonatal intensive care unit at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria and in nursing management and clinical education at Proctor Hospital in Peoria and OB, pediatrics and home health at BroMenn Regional Medical Center in Bloomington.

Honors & Memberships

Dr. Lessen is a member of the National Association of Neonatal Nurses, the Association of Women’s Health Obstetrical and Neonatal Nursing, the Illinois Nurses Association and Sigma Theta Tau International. She has served on the Advancing Public Health Nursing Education State Advisory Board, on the McLean County Health Department Community Health Assessment Committee and Head Start Health Advisory Committee, and as a public health mentor with the American Public Health Association National Mentoring Program.

Dr. Lessen's Curriculum Vita (pdf)