Home /

 

Sandra Mesics recently retired as St. Luke’s University Health Network’s first Network Manager of Diversity and Inclusion. For the prior fifteen years, she was Director of St. Luke’s School of Nursing, the oldest continually operating nursing school in the country. A native of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Sandra graduated from Liberty High School. She holds the Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology from Penn State University, The Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida, the Master’s in Nursing from the University of Miami, with a specialty in nurse-midwifery, and awarded the honorary Doctor of Science Degree from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. She has served as treasurer of the Pennsylvania League for Nursing and is a member of Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society of Nursing, the National League for Nursing, the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, and the Abortion Care Network. In addition to her leadership in nursing education and patient care, Sandra, who was assigned male at birth, became active in the Transsexual Action Organization following her own medical transition in the early 1970s. This organization was the first national group representing the transgender community. She is also recognized by linguists as one of the first individuals to use the term “transgender,” which appeared in Image Magazine, a publication for which she served as publisher and executive editor. In the 1990s she helped establish the St. Stephen’s AIDS ministry in Coconut Grove, Florida, a volunteer group that continues to support families affected by this disease. Sandy is the Secretary of the Eastern Pennsylvania Trans Equity Project, a grassroots organization that provides micro grants to support transgender individuals through their transition process. She serves on the board of the Lehigh Valley Amateur Astronomical Society, fulfilling her lifelong passion of amateur astronomy. Sandra lives in Bethlehem with her spouse, Sara, with their two cats, Biscuit and Annie. She and Sara were among the first same-gender couples to receive a Pennsylvania marriage license in 2013. They have a grandson who attends Liberty High School.