Nurses are on the front lines of public health. They work in hospitals and sometimes in people’s homes. They’re trained to meet people where they are and communicate across patients, doctors, and policymakers.

Nurses are, in effect, some of the medical field’s best diplomats. And today, those skills are being put to the test. The US population is aging at exactly the same time the federal government is cutting health research funding and creating an environment that incentivizes top talent from around the world to study or work elsewhere.

One of the foremost leaders navigating this difficult inflection point is Sarah Szanton, dean of one of the top-ranked schools of nursing in the world at Johns Hopkins University. Sarah sees what’s coming for all of us. The current problems in US healthcare are real, but nurses like Sarah stand out a ...