Mary Elizabeth Dixon (DNP ’21), of Charlottesville, VA, received the DAISY Lifetime Achievement Award last August, the first such award ever granted at UVA Health. Mary, former chief nursing officer and now special adviser to UVA Health Chief Executive Officer Wendy Horton, was lauded for her mentoring, role modeling, patient advocacy, and tireless promotion of nursing. Mary—who presented more than 100 DAISY Awards to her fellow nurses during her tenure at UVA—will move to Florida after retirement.  Watch the video as Mary is surprised with the award!

LTC Suzanne Cobleigh (MSN `19, DNP `20) is the officer in charge of the U.S. Army's medium medical teams deployed to COVID-stressed hospitals, and has, since August 2020, served in Little Rock, AR, Grand Rapids, MI, and, later this spring, Aberdeen, MD. 

In January 2022, she Zoomed with President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin about her teams' work, and was featured as part of the U.S. Army's Defense Flash News. Read an interview with Suzie in UVA Today.

Cameron Farmer (BSN `20), of Washington, D.C., earned a Health Resources & Services Administration Nurse Corps Scholarship program grant in late 2021. The scholarship, which will help fund Cameron's doctoral studies, will further her ability to study and serve vulnerable populations through a three-year commitment after graduation.

Wrote Cameron to mentor nurse scientist Jeanne Alhusen: "My DMP project, under your guidance, focusing on vulnerable populations, set me up for success and helped prepare me for this amazing opportunity . . . I could not have achieved this without such great leaders, teachers, research exposure through the Distinguished Majors and summer research internship program, and support in my life! I am grateful to UVA School of Nursing for providing students such great learning opportunities such as the DMP program and professors who take the time to encourage us to accomplish our goals. Excited to continue on as a nurse leader and proud to be a WAHOO."

Lauren A. Brill (BSN ’19), of Charlottesville, VA, and a nurse in UVA Health’s medical ICU and Special Pathogens Unit, received a DAISY Award for her compassionate care and wisdom surrounding the death of a COVID-19 patient. “Even though he was declining clinically,” Lauren’s nominator wrote, “her care remained exceptional.”

Laurel Geis (MSN ’19) of Charlottesville, VA, and a clinical instructor at the School, earned UVA Health’s 2021 Nurse of Distinction Award, which was bestowed on her final day in the Coronary Care Unit (CCU) where she has worked since 2019. Laurel was heralded as a team player for her flexibility and contributions to the CCU’s positive environment.

Timothy-Keith Schau Earley (BSN `15, MSN `20), of Richmond, VA, married Aarson Ledesma at a ceremony in Richmond on October 23, a union that was featured in the Dec. 17 edition of the New York Times' "Vows."

Until recently, Timothy-Keith worked as a clinical coordinator at the Evans-Haynes Burn Center at VCU Health; he is now a nurse pracititoner at the Burn and Reconstructive Centers of America at Chippenham Hospital in Richmond. 

Jane Muir (BSN ’15, PHD-STDN ’22) of Charlottesville, VA, along with UVA Health colleagues, fellow nurses, and Compassionate Care Initiative ambassadors Jeannel Webb-Jones and Nancy Farish, created the Resilience Toolbox, a transportable self-care intervention that can be utilized by clinicians on the unit, and on the go. Read more about the Resilience Toolbox on UVA Today.

Jane presented her dissertation study in winter 2021, which found that hospitals that employed burnout reduction strategies for nurses - through raises, bonuses, opportunity for advancement and leadership - work that was published in the Journal of Patient Safety and featured in UVA Today. She also penned an op-ed for STAT's First Opinion, part of the Boston Globe, titled, "The solution to the wave of nurse resignations? Cold, hard cash."

STAT featured Jane on their First Opinion podcast; listen here.

Professor emeritus Kenneth R. White (CERTI-ACNP ’13), of Boston, MA, was appointed dean of the School of Nursing at Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions. Ken, a palliative care nurse practitioner and UVA professor emerita, was associate dean for strategic partnerships at UVA School of Nursing and an endowed professor at UVA Health. He began his new role at MGHIHP in July.

Ken also assumed the presidency of the American Academy of Nursing last October, a two-year term.

Tim Cunningham (MSN ’09), vice president of practice and innovation at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta, GA, co-edited Self-Care for New and Student Nurses (Sigma: 2021) with Dorrie K. Fontaine, dean emerita, and Natalie May, assistant professor. The book includes contributions from 17 UVA faculty, staff, students, and alumni, with additional essays written by bedside nurses that bring the realities of COVID-19 home.

Karyn Jean Daguerre (BSN ’95), of Chapel Hill, NC—an oncology education coordinator at UNC Health—published a paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association Oncology in August that describes the novel workflow and design of a nurse-delivered COVID-19 intervention to improve vaccine outreach to marginalized populations.

The Washington State Nurses Association Hall of Fame inducted nurse leader Donna Poole (MSN ’75) into its ranks.

Donna—who was president of the Washington State Nurses Association, a founding member of the Association of Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses, a 30-year affiliate faculty member at the University of Washington School of Nursing, and an appointed member of the Washington State Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission—lives in Bainbridge Island, WA.

The University of North Carolina Greensboro School of Nursing appointed Debra J. Barksdale (BSN ’83) as dean last July. Prior to this appointment, Debra—a first-generation college graduate and a nationally recognized scholar, teacher, and practitioner—was associate dean of academic affairs and a professor at VCU School of Nursing where she expanded undergraduate and master’s enrollment, led the development of a new nursing leadership and organizational science concentration, and developed a new graduate certificate program in Healthcare Innovation.

The Oncology Nursing Certification Corporation named Theresa Pluth Yeo (MSN ’83) of Narberth, PA, the 2021 Advanced Oncology Certified Nurse Practitioner of the Year. Terry—a vital part of the Jefferson Pancreatic Cancer and Related Diseases Patient Symposium and the Advanced Practice Oncology Nursing for Diverse and Underserved Populations programs—is principal investigator in numerous studies that evaluate quality of life for patients with pancreatic cancer, and co-investigator in studies that aim to relieve its symptoms and surgical recovery.

Her ongoing work on the Survivor Survey as co-director of the Jefferson Pancreas Tumor Registry tracks risk factors data, gene mutations, family screenings, and the lived experience of people with pancreatic and related cancers. In presentations, Terry often refers to the survey’s “precious data,” keenly aware that numbers represent people and their stories of pain and courage.

Congratulations to Paula Doyle Zeanah (CERTI-PNP ’75, MSN ’79), of New Orleans, LA, Virginia LeBaron (BSN ’96), of Charlottesville, VA, Shelly Porter Smith (BSN ’99, DNP ’12) of Powhatan, VA, and Melissa M. Gomes (CERTI-PMHN ’12), of Hampton, VA, who were among the 225 nurse leaders to be inducted as Fellows of the American Academy of Nursing at a Washington, D.C., ceremony in October. Paula, Virginia, Shelly, and Melissa join the nation’s nearly 3,000 FAANs who are leaders in education, management, practice, and research.

Virginia is also the author of a new book of poems—Cardinal Marks—published in spring 2021.