Rana Limbo PhD, RN, CPLC, FAAN

Dr. Rana Limbo's 50+-year nursing career began at St. Olaf College, followed immediately by a master's in maternal child nursing from the University of Colorado. She was then hired as a bedside nurse at Colorado General Hospital. She was drawn to the emotional aspects of childbearing, through both her education and clinical experiences in her early career. Specifically, Dr. Limbo found herself wanting to raise the standard of care for those women and families who suffered grief from multiple causes. Eventually, she was hired as the first coordinator of Resolve Through Sharing (RTS) at Gundersen Health System, La Crosse, Wisconsin in 1981. As a co-founder of RTS, she was an educator, curriculum designer, writer, and researcher, roles she continued throughout her career. She earned a second master's in adult psychiatric and mental health nursing (Indiana University) and a Ph.D. in nursing from the University of Wisconsin - Madison.

As an international leader in perinatal bereavement, she has educated thousands of professionals; authored or edited six books, numerous journal articles, and book chapters; and brought the teaching/learning theory of guided participation to be central in the RTS core curriculum. Her primary research topic, miscarriage, led to innovative understandings of the early ending of a pregnancy. Dr. Limbo has been involved in numerous organizations, including the Pregnancy Loss and Infant Death Alliance, where she served as president for two terms and numerous conference planning committees. She was recognized as a pioneer in perinatal bereavement at both the 2018 and 2020 conferences. She was an invited member of the International Work Group on Death, Dying, and Bereavement and was inducted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, nursing's highest honor.