Professional Achievement Award

Dr. Mary Matteucci Ouimet, Nurs ’86, Grad ’15
Kenosha, Wis.

After 15 years as the chief nursing officer in a hospital setting, Dr. Mary Ouimet took on a new professional challenge, becoming chief executive officer of the Kenosha (Wisconsin) Community Health Center just as the COVID-19 pandemic struck the United States.

The center’s four sites provide care for more than 17,000 medically underserved or socially vulnerable people in Kenosha, Racine and Walworth counties located in Southeastern Wisconsin. In the aftermath of the pandemic, Mary led the launch of a new fully integrated health clinic rebranded as “Pillar Health.” The new practice model allows patients to receive medical, dental and behavioral health care in a single health home. The aim of this initiative, she says, is to increase health care access, improve health outcomes and reduce costs.

Mary credits her Marquette professors with preparing her to lead. They “were role models in our field, unrelenting when it came it quality and excellence, and gave me the confidence to always Be The Difference,” she says. Professor of Nursing Donna McCarthy was particularly inspiring. “Donna was a role model of how to be firm about the right things, articulate and pioneering,” Mary says, calling her “a high-performing, excellent, fearless nursing professional.”

Mary attended Marquette in the footsteps of her father, a proud graduate of the Marquette University School of Dentistry. Her brothers are also Marquette graduates. “I recognize that my parents made many sacrifices so my brothers and I could benefit from a Marquette education,” she says. “My late father lived and breathed MU blue and gold and would be so proud of this recognition. That means the world to me.”

Fun Facts:

Why did you choose to attend Marquette?
A family friend encouraged me to pursue a nursing degree at Marquette. She said, ‘You know, Marquette nurses are different. You would be part of an elite group of nurses if you choose that program.’ The rest was history.

What is one of your favorite Marquette memories?
Block parties in the center of campus and nights at the Avalanche Bar.

Leave a congratulatory message for Mary!