Sandra Cornett (Class of 2020)

Sandra Cornett was employed in nursing practice and patient education from 1965 until her retirement in 2014. She was involved in patient care as a staff nurse and as assistant director of nursing staff development at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center until 1979. Then, for more than twenty years, Cornett was the patient education coordinator/program manager for consumer health education at the Wexner Medical Center.

As patient education coordinator, Cornett developed and managed an institution-wide, interdisciplinary patient education program that included the development of over 3,000 titles of patient/health education materials written below an 8thgrade reading level. During this time, she also served as part-time and/or adjunct faculty at various nursing and allied health colleges in central Ohio. She became well known for her work and expertise in patient education and health literacy, conducting research in the field and publishing her work.

Cornett presented over 200 times at the state, regional and national levels on topics such as performance improvement in patient education, developing interdisciplinary and institution-wide patient education, developing a learning resource center for patients, chronic disease self-management and teaching patients with low-literacy skills.

From 2001 to 2014, Cornett provided leadership and consultation throughout Ohio on implementing health literacy programs. The Ohio State Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Clear Health Communication Program, Office of Diversity and Inclusion, College of Medicine was developed by Cornett, and she was the director of the program and a national speaker on health literacy issues until she retired in 2014. The Ohio State AHEC offers comprehensive professional development and continuing education in the field of health literacy. The modules are appropriate for physicians, nurses, therapists, pharmacists, social workers, health educators and all practitioners providing direct or indirect health care.

For thirty-five years, Cornett made patient education and health literacy her major focus for improving the health care of people in central Ohio and beyond. She has served on service boards, expanded her work transculturally and consulted with many educators, health care administrators and vendors. She has been the recipient of many distinguished awards throughout her career for her work.

Cornett graduated from The Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1965, a Master’s degree in Nursing Education and Nursing Administration in 1970, and a PhD in Adult Education/Instructional Design in 1981.