Why I Give: Donna Gentile O'Donnell
“Probably the two most important things in life: show up and say yes.”
Those words have served Donna Gentile O’Donnell, PhD ’84 well in her accomplished career. Starting with being the youngest person in Father Guido’s choir to being one of the first women in her neighborhood to go to college to earning her PhD, Donna has chased her goals with persistence.
Path to GMercyU
Donna started her nursing journey at The Community College of Rhode Island and passed her licensure exam on the first try. She launched her nursing career in Florida before moving to Pennsylvania and accepting a job in Obstetrics, where she was encouraged to earn her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.
Donna’s mentor in Obstetrics recommended then Gwynedd-Mercy College. Donna attended an Open House, applied, and was accepted early. Ever persistent, Donna wanted to start right away, so she gave Sister Anne Donofry a call.
“I called the nursing program. Sister Anne answered the phone and I said, ‘I would like to get some of the books for the fall early.’ She said, ‘Well, you can go to the bookstore. Some books they’ll know ahead of time. Others they won’t because they have to wait for the syllabi to come out.’ So, I said, ‘Thank you Sister, I’ll go to the bookstore’.”
“I learned many years later that she hung up the phone and turned to Sister Mary Esmond and said, ‘We got a live one coming’.”
Laying the Foundation
As a student, Donna hit the ground running. In addition to working in CCU on 4-12 or overnight doing her clinical rotations, Donna established what is considered the predecessor to Sigma Theta Tau; a Brown Bag Lunch club; on-campus babysitting for classmates with kids; worked in the campus Health Center as part of her Financial Aid package; and wrote for the school paper, The Griffin. By her second year, Donna was elected President of the Senior Class.
During this time, Donna invited Mary Ann Arty, a nurse and PA State Representative to campus to
speak. Donna was fascinated by her career and after speaking with her, Representative Arty invited Donna to Harrisburg.
So, Donna said yes.
It’s not a leap to say that Donna’s brief but impactful visit to Harrisburg laid the foundation for her career after graduating with her BSN.
Expansive Career
Since then, Donna has spent more than two decades in leadership roles spanning healthcare innovation,
higher education, public policy, entrepreneurship, and community development. Today, Donna serves
as senior advisor to Osagie Imasogie, who recruited her as a Director to the board of the bi-national company, Zelira Therapeutics.
She credits GMercyU for not only giving her the experience and skills needed for success, but the values.
“I think if you start with values, then it’s a heck of a lot easier to lay skill sets on top of those values,” Donna
said. “When you get to a certain point in your career and you look at the arc of who you are, what you’ve
done, what you achieved, you think about the places that made it possible for you. I go all the way back to the beginning with Gwynedd.”
Donna held leadership roles at Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health, serving as Special Assistant to then-President and CEO, Dr. Stephen Klasko and as Senior Vice President overseeing the organization’s programmatic innovation initiatives, including the creation of the Health Design Lab. Earlier in her career, Donna served as Deputy Health Commissioner for Policy and Planning for the City of Philadelphia, the first nurse appointed to this role.
A commentator in regional and national media, Donna is the author of the book, Provider of Last Resort:
The Story of the Closure of the Philadelphia General Hospital, co-author of multiple research-based studies and book chapters, and has penned numerous articles.
Supporting the Next Generation
GMercyU’s Frances M. Maguire Healthcare ’55 Innovation Center (HIC) is a hub of innovation, a place where today’s students learn to become the leaders, innovators, and compassionate caregivers of tomorrow. The Ideation/Maker Space Lab in the HIC is a key part of this vision, thanks to Donna’s generous support. This space will directly support hands-on learning for these future healthcare professionals.
“My hope is that the students, nursing students certainly, will take part in cross-discipline collaboration,” Donna said. “That’s one of my hopes, that the ideation space will become a place where people think outside the box and do outside the box.”
In May, Donna served as GMercyU’s 2026 Undergraduate Commencement Speaker. It was a full-circle moment for the alumna who performed an original song at her own graduation in 1984.
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