UVA Nursing students, faculty, and staff showed up in force for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s CNL Summit held in San Antonio, TX, in February. Presenting faculty members included associate professor Pamela DeGuzman (BSN ’96, CNL ’00, PHD ’12), professor Emily Drake (BSN ’85, MSN ’93), clinical professor Christy Hodge (CNL ’14), assistant professor Emma Mitchell (MSN ’08, PHD ’11), Hannah Ritsema (CNL ’18), and UVA Health nurse Cindy Westley (BSN ’93, MSN ’94, CERTI-FNP ’97).

Student presenters, panelists, and attendees included Olivia Conn, Sabrina Cumpian, Meredith Dyer, Julianna Heyward, BriannaRae Stout Hundley, Mattie Hyler, Morgan MacKenzie, Caroline Porco, and Elle Worley (CNL ’20).

Betty ‘Lou” Phipps Roberts’ (DIPLO ’53) book about Alzheimer’s, Midnight Chronicles, was entered in the Frankfurter Buchmesse in Frankfurt, Germany. This book fair is considered the world's largest trade fair for books, based both on the number of publishing companies represented, and the number of visitors. Betty lives in Madison, AL.

Patricia Viar Heath (BSN ’70) moved to a retirement community in Ruckersville, VA, with her husband. After completing graduate studies at the University of Arizona, she worked as a clinical nurse specialist and as a nurse educator for 37 years in Texas and Arizona.

William J. Brown (PhD ’12), who leads the Center for Nursing Science and Clinical Inquiry at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, was selected to be a 2020 Fellow in the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. Bill was also promoted to the rank of Army Colonel this spring.

Kenneth R. White (CERTI ’13), associate dean for strategic partnerships and innovation at UVA’s School of Nursing, became president-elect of the American Academy of Nursing last fall. White, a palliative care nurse practitioner at UVA Health, will assume the two-year presidency in 2021. He and husband Carl live in Afton, VA.

Gwyneth Rhiannon Milbrath (MSN ’14, PHD ’17) of Oak Park, IL, was appointed director of the Midwest Nursing History Research Center at the University of Illinois College of Nursing where she also works as a clinical assistant professor.

Master’s student Jessica Lynne Denomme (BSN ’15) sparked a cross-Grounds collaboration to create personal protective equipment (PPE) for health care workers on the COVID-19 frontlines, harnessing talents from biomedical engineering to architecture, education to business. Jessica, who lives in Palmyra, VA, is an intensive care registered nurse at UVA Health and a paramedic.

Monique Susan Jesionowski (MSN ’16, DNP ’17) earned the 2019 Nursing Education Award from the Texas State Emergency Nurses Association at the group’s yearly gala. The award recognizes a nurse who made significant contributions to the education of colleagues, nursing students, EMS personnel, and patients and their families by publishing articles, creating courses, and developing an emergency nursing program or curriculum. Monique—who lives in Cibolo, TX — works as nurse with the U.S. Army Medical Department.

Shannon R. Noffsinger (BSN ’16) of Richmond, VA, became the first nurse anesthesia student selected for the Virginia Nurse Advocate Health Policy Fellowship, a program that helps graduate nursing students translate their clinical expertise into policies to improve healthcare access and affordability. In her work, Shannon collaborates with health advocacy groups, builds health coallitions, crafts language for proposed legislation, composes position statements for legislative and regulatory meetings, and assists with strategic planning.

Kwame Asante Akuamoah-Boateng (DNP ’18) was inducted as a Fellow of the Society of Critical Care Medicine, part of the American College of Critical Care Medicine, an honor that recognizes individuals for their significant contribution in the critical care profession. Kwame, a clinical instructor in the School’s Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program, lives in Barboursville, VA.

Susan D. Almarode (DNP’19) of Crozet, VA, earned the Neonatal Nurses Practitioner (NNP) Excellence Award at the 2019 National Association of Neonatal Nurses’ Annual Conference. The award honors outstanding contributions made by an NNP through exemplary practice, leadership, service, and education.