Ellen Barker graduated from the Watts School of Nursing in Durham, North Carolina, her home state, and continued her education at the University of Delaware in Newark, Delaware, where she received a bachelor of nursing (BSN) degree. She completed her graduate education at Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania, majoring in Burns, Emergency and Trauma (BET) with a specialization in neuroscience nursing. Since completion of her Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), her career has focused on the specialty of neuroscience nursing.
Her teaching responsibilities include eight years at the University of Delaware where she was voted "Most Outstanding Instructor" by the students. Teaching responsibilities involved the development of a senior elective, "Discovering Neuroscience Nursing" to encourage nursing students to specialize in neuroscience nursing. She is currently a part-time faculty at Neumann College, Easton, Pennsylvania teaching neuroscience nursing. Clinical experiences include medical-surgical nursing, intensive care, neuroscience critical care, and neuroscience clinical specialist with supervision of patients throughout a major teaching hospital. She also coordinated an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) clinic overseeing the care of over 140 patients.
In 1983, she received the "Nurse of the Year Award" presented by the Delaware Nurses Association (DNA) and Excellence in Nursing Practice Award for National Peer Recognition sponsored by the American Nurses Association (ANA). She is listed in the 1996 Who's Who in American Nursing. She is the recipient of numerous other awards.
Ellen is well known nationally and internationally through her publications, lectures, and consultations. She also volunteers extensively for organizations, e.g., the Professional Advisory Board of the Epilepsy Foundation of Delaware and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Delaware Chapter. She served as President of the Delaware SAFE KIDS Coalition campaigning to offer bicycle helmets to over 2,000 school children in the state as part of a head injury prevention program. In 1999 she was responsible for founding the Delaware Stroke Initiative.
As a member of the Editorial Board for the nursing journal, RN, she reviews manuscripts and contributes original articles for publication. She is a reviewer for various professional textbooks and journals. Her first edition of Neuroscience Nursing, published by Mosby, received an American Journal of Nursing (AJN) Book of the Year Award and was cited in the Brandon Hill list as one of four books in Neuroscience Nursing.
Ellen Barker is an educator traveling nationally and internationally. Her current lecture series consists of a two-day neuroscience review course, and she is a faculty member for Training on Location (TOL) for Mosby.
With her extensive education, experience, and knowledge in the speciality of neuroscience patients, Ellen Barker is a leader that has made her mark and continues to serve with a passion that motivates her clients and their colleagues.
