Sue Bernhauser 1974

Dean of Human and Health Sciences, University of Huddersfield

Hi, I'm Sue Bernhauser and I studied 1974 within Health Sciences at the University of Southampton.

As your career develops in nursing, you often have opportunities to specialise in education or management. I liked being on the wards but am pleased I went down the education pathway

It all started as a temporary job at the age of 15. Sue Bernhauser began nursing in Hampshire as a teenager but has risen through the ranks to become Dean of Human and Health Sciences at the University of Huddersfield.
She started work at Coldeast Hospital near Fareham as a nursing cadet, became a learning disability nurse and subsequently she started her training at the University of Southampton in 1974. "I enjoyed being a medical nurse at the Royal South Hants Hospital but also worked in neurosurgery at the Southampton General," she says.
Sue became interested in nurse education and took a course in the subject at the, then, South Bank Polytechnic. She combined practice with education in posts in Glasgow, Dorset, Birmingham and the north east of England before becoming Deputy Dean of Health at Brighton University.

National roles followed and Sue became Chair of the Council of Deans of Health which represents the UK's 86 university departments of nursing, midwifery and health sciences, and has advised the Government on health issues. "As your career develops in nursing, you often have opportunities to specialise in education or management. I liked being on the wards but am pleased I went down the education pathway," she says.