Telling it like it is. On June 12, the Center to Champion Nursing in America, a joint initiative of AARP and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), and Health Affairs, the health policy journal, convened a group of nursing leaders and health policy experts to address health care reform and to put forth the idea that to be successful, reform plans must include a role for nurses. Forum participants discussed the critical role of nurses in health care delivery and the nursing shortage, and made recommendations for reforming the health care system (see http://www.healthaffairs.org for more). Pictured here are (from left to right) Susan Hassmiller, RWJF senior adviser for nursing; Linda Aiken, director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research in the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing; Brenda L. Cleary, director of the Center to Champion Nursing in America; and Chris Tanner, professor in the Oregon Health and Science University School of Nursing.