Trailblazing Nursing

Dean Usha Menon sits down with Caitlyn Brown, the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet Mechanic and Inside Front Tire Changer, to discuss her trailblazing journey as a female mechanic.
You can see Caitlyn Brown in St. Pete March 8-10, 2024, at the Firestone Grand Prix!

Following in the footsteps of trailblazing female icons in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES (NICS), Caitlyn Brown etched her name in the history books on May 28, 2023, as the first female pit crew member to win the Indianapolis 500. Her work as a mechanic and inside front tire changer for the No. 2 Shell Powering Progress Chevrolet helped propel Josef Newgarden from the 17th starting position on the grid to win his first Indianapolis 500, and the 19th for Team Penske.

Brown made team history at the start of the 2023 NICS season as the first, full-time female pit crew member in the 57-year history of Team Penske. A native of Wilmington, Illinois, Brown comes from a racing family, herself having competed in four-cylinder dirt track racing in her youth. While she loved the competition that comes with being behind the wheel, the mechanics of making a car perform at its best proved to be Brown’s true calling.

After paying her dues in entry-level positions that helped Brown get her foot in the door of professional motorsports, she began her Team Penske career in 2019 as a NASCAR shop mechanic. Brown then transitioned into the role of fuel cell specialist. Looking for an opportunity as a traveling mechanic with one of the Team Penske teams, Brown first ventured out on the road with the organization’s INDYCAR team during the 2021 season. Before the start of the 2022 INDYCAR SERIES season, she made the transition from fenders to open-wheel cars complete.

It was during the 2021 season that Brown seized her first opportunity to go over the wall with the female-led, Paretta Autosport INDYCAR team in the 105th running of the Indianapolis 500. The Paretta team received technical support from Team Penske, and the partnership allowed Brown and others to show what they could do on pit lane in the world’s biggest race.

In the world of motorsports, the Indianapolis 500 provides a daunting level of pressure. When you drive for Team Penske, the winningest team in the history of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” the intensity gets ratcheted up even more.

“This is the reason you want to work for Team Penske, to have a shot at winning the Indianapolis 500,” said Brown after the victory. “To play a role in Josef winning his first – and the team’s 19th – is very special. The car doesn’t know what gender you are. If you put the work in, you can have success. I hope it opens the door for other females in the future.”

Together, Host Dean Usha Menon and Heather Young discuss how we mentor and encourage nurses to pursue leadership roles.
Dr. Young is a professor and dean emerita for the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis. As a nurse leader, educator, scientist, and nationally recognized expert in gerontological nursing and rural health care, she is eminently qualified to talk about the future of nursing leadership.

Are we fiddling while Rome is burning? Dean Usha Menon sits down with Talent Partner at AndHealth and former Ohio State University Chief Innovation Officer, Tim Raderstorf, to discuss how we revive a system that wasn't set for success. Listen to learn about how we can cultivate a collective voice to build a new future for nursing.

World-renowned patient safety champion, innovator, critical care physician, Dr. Peter Pronovost, shares his ideology on leading with love and the mindset shift it will propagate for a radically more effective nursing workforce.

History has proven that the nursing workforce has survived trials before. Dr. Peter Buerhaus, nurse and a healthcare economist well known for his studies on the nursing and physician workforces in the United States joins Dr. Usha Menon as the discuss the recovering nursing workforce.
Beurhaus is a Professor of Nursing and Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Health Workforce Studies at Montana State University College of Nursing.