Dorrie K. Fontaine

Dorrie K. Fontaine is an American educator, author, dean, and critical care nurse. She is known best for her academic leadership at the University of Virginia School of Nursing.

Biography Fontaine was born and raised in Charlottesville. She earned a bachelor's degree in nursing from Villanova University in 1972, a master's degree from the University of Maryland in 1977, and subsequently began her career in academia before receiving a PhD from the Catholic University of America.

Fontaine served as the fifth dean of the University of Virginia School of Nursing (UVA) for over a decade before retiring in July 2018. While at UVA, she created the Compassionate Care Initiative to help train nurses on providing empathetic care to patients and implemented requirements of interprofessional education among medical and nursing students through course material and training exercises. Fontaine is a past president and member of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses and has been a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing for over 20 years.