Dr. Donald Zimmerman

“Dr. Zimmerman’s qualifications will prove to be a great asset to Walden, and we look forward to the experience and insight he brings to our university, our College of Health Sciences, and our schools of health sciences and nursing,” said Jonathan Kaplan, president of Walden University.

Previously, Zimmerman served as director of graduate business programs and associate professor of healthcare business and policy at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia (USP). In addition to his teaching and program leadership roles at USP, he developed the innovative “G-Learning” model, based on a strategic business partnership with Google, Inc.

Prior to his time at USP, Zimmerman was an associate professor and executive director of the Center for Healthcare Management Studies at Fairleigh Dickinson University, where he developed new graduate programming for health care and pharmaceutical professionals, worked closely with the World Health Organization on global learning issues and received the dean’s award for teaching effectiveness with adult learners. He also served as a visiting associate professor at Cornell University, adjunct professor at the University of Maryland and senior advisor to Western Governors University.

In addition to his academic career, Zimmerman was actively involved in U.S. health care policy as senior sociologist and project director at Research Triangle Institute International, executive director of the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council, senior analyst at the nonpartisan National Health Policy Forum and senior aide to the chair of the National Committee of Vital and Health Statistics.

As a consultant, he has worked with the U.S. Congress, federal and state government agencies and companies that include KPMG, the Intergovernmental Health Policy Project, Merck & Co., Inc., Schering-Plough, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and Mt. Sinai Medical Center. 

Zimmerman received his doctoral training in sociology from Stony Brook University and earned a bachelor’s degree with distinction from the University of Washington. He has published widely and is a frequent speaker on health care and business issues.

Walden’s School of Health Sciences offers a Master of Public Health (M.P.H.), Ph.D. in Public Health, Ph.D. in Health Services, Master of Healthcare Administration (M.H.A.), and the M.S. degree program in Clinical Research Administration, and the School of Nursing offers the M.S. degree program in Nursing, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and post-master’s certificates in nursing.

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