1. Home
  2.   /  
  3. Directory
  4.   /  
  5. Nilda (Nena) Peragallo Montano

Nilda (Nena) Peragallo Montano, DrPH, RN, FAAN

Dean Emeritus

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
School of Nursing
Carrington Hall, CB #7460
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7460

Nilda (Nena) Peragallo Montano, DrPH, RN, FAAN became the seventh Dean of the School of Nursing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in January 2017 and retired in January 2022. She was formerly dean and professor of the University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies.

A nationally and internationally recognized nursing scientist specializing in health disparities and culturally competent interventions with minority populations, Peragallo Montano has devoted her research and academic career to improving the health status of minorities and other medically underserved groups. Peragallo Montano has a solid record of successful competitive research funding.

From 2007-2015 she served as Director and Principal Investigator of the Center of Excellence for Health Disparities Research: El Centro, the first NIH P50 center grant awarded to a school of nursing. Peragallo Montano is currently Co-Principal Investigator of El Centro, which has been funded continuously by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities since its inception.

Peragallo Montano’s policy and leadership roles include past service on the NIH/NIMHD Advisory Council and co-Chairmanship of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Health Project Workforce Committee. She is past president of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses. In 2012, she was appointed to the National Advisory Committee for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholars Program, and to the Board of Directors of IntraHealth International, a global health nonprofit organization that champions the role of health workers. She was selected by HispanicBusiness as one of the 100 Most Influential Leaders of 2012. She has been honored with a number of regional awards for her contributions to the South Florida community, including the 2014 In the Company of Women Award, Miami-Dade County Commission for Women, Parks Foundation of Miami-Dade and Miami Dade Parks.

Dean Peragallo Montano has authored numerous professional publications and is a sought-after speaker in her field. She has mentored a number of Hispanic scientists who are now published authors and advancing in positions of leadership. She holds a joint faculty appointment at Australian Catholic University Faculty of Health Sciences. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, a member of Sigma Theta Tau International, the honor society of nursing, and an inductee of the STTI Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame.

Dr. Peragallo Montano was recently awarded a Doctor Honoris Causa from Universidad Inca Garcilaso De La Vega in Lima, Peru, and was previously a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Nurse Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. She earned her doctorate in public health at the University of Texas, a master of science in nursing at the University of West Virginia, and a bachelor of science in nursing at the University of Chile.

Specialties