Venetta Masson, R.N., M.A.

A nurse in practice for thirty-five years, twenty of them in primary health care, Veneta Masson was a founder, director and, for most of two decades, family nurse practitioner in a small, mom-and-pop clinic providing office and home care to an inner-city neighborhood in Washington, DC. Two books came out of that experience: Ninth Street Notebook—Voice of a Nurse in the City contains short pieces about big issues in health care from her vantage point on the front lines of health care. Rehab at the Florida Avenue Grill is a poetry collection featuring narrative poems about events and people whose lives changed hers.

Though no longer in practice, Veneta continues to explore healing art. Her new poetry collection, Clinician’s Guide to the Soul, is scheduled for publication in 2008. She also serves as a Contributing Editor of the American Journal of Nursing.