Five Nurses Celebrated for Leadership and Innovation in Advancing Health Equity
AARP, National Nursing Orgs, Announce 2024 Equity-Minded Nurse Awardees
Contact: Mary Boyle, mboyle@aarp.org
Five outstanding nurses with very different specializations have been selected as recipients of the 2024 Equity-Minded Nurse Awards from the AARP Center for Health Equity through NursingSM and the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, an initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The award program supports the Campaign’s vision that everyone in America can live a healthier life, advanced by equity-minded nurses as essential and valued partners in providing care and promoting health equity and well-being.
The awards are given in five categories, and each is generously co-sponsored by a national nursing organization named below. Each awardee will receive a $1,000 prize and paid travel to and recognition at an awards dinner in Baltimore on Sept. 10 before a national audience of nurse educators.
The awardees are:
- Wei-Ti Chen, PhD, RN, FAAN, University of California, Los Angeles School of Nursing
- Selena Gilles, DNP, ANEF, FNYAM, FADLN, FAANP, FAAN, New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing
- Sabrina Jamal-Eddine, PhD, RN, University of Illinois, Chicago, Department of Disability and Human Development
- Robert Lucero, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN, FACMI, University of California, Los Angeles School of Nursing
- M. Rebecca O’Connor, PhD, RN, University of Washington School of Nursing
Wei-Ti Chen, RN, PhD, FAAN of the UCLA School of Nursing is the recipient of the 2024 Equity-Minded Nurse Leader Award. Co-sponsored by the American Organization for Nursing Leadership, this award recognizes a catalyst for change at the systems or organization level that addresses and dismantles policies and structures that contribute to disparities and inequities and contributes to an overall climate of inclusion that encourages the institution to focus on community needs.
Chen’s research is directed toward the development and dissemination of tools to improve health care and quality of life of underserved or stigmatized groups, such as people with HIV/AIDS, Tourette Syndrome, and mobile populations. She continues to identify the best approaches for developing suitable, effective and sustainable health policies in the area of HIV care. Chen is one of the first nurse scientists to conduct HIV intervention research with Asians both in the U.S. and in Asia (Taiwan, China, Myanmar and Thailand). Read more.
Selena Gilles, DNP, ANEF, FNYAM, FADLN, FAANP, FAAN, of the New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing is the recipient of the 2024 Equity-Minded Nurse Practice Award. Co-sponsored by the National Commission to Address Racism in Nursing/American Nurses Association, this award recognizes a nurse whose work with patients, families and/or communities exemplifies efforts to reduce health disparities and advance health equity.
Gilles has been an adult nurse practitioner for 14 years, specializing in neuro, pain management and addiction medicine. She is regarded as a leader and prelicensure nursing education expert, with a focus on preparing entry-level professional nurses to practice across a variety of settings in the spheres of wellness/disease prevention and chronic disease management. She has strong community advocacy and passion for global health, participating in seven medical missions. She has published articles on such topics as the value of including reproductive justice in nursing curricula, the role of nurses educating patients about opioid overdose harm prevention and using community-based models to increase vaccination rates in marginalized communities. Read more.
Sabrina Jamal-Eddine, PhD, RN, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), is recipient of the 2024 Equity-Minded Nurse Rising Star Award. Co-sponsored by the National League for Nursing, this award recognizes a student or early career individual whose contributions show promise for ongoing impact in reducing health disparities and advancing health equity.
Jamal-Eddine is a nurse scientist and interdisciplinary disability justice scholar. Her doctoral research explored the use of critical narrative pedagogy to educate nursing students about disability, ableism, and disability justice in the context of health care, and she will advance this research through her postdoctoral fellowship. She serves on the board of directors of the National Organization of Nurses with Disabilities (NOND) as well as UIC Chancellor’s Committee on the Status of Persons with Disabilities. Jamal-Eddine’s long-term goal is to found an interdisciplinary, applied public-humanities community-engaged healthcare equity center in a university. Read more.
Robert Lucero, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN, FACMI, UCLA School of Nursing is the recipient of the 2024 Equity-Minded Nurse Research Award. Co-sponsored by the American Academy of Nursing, this award recognizes a nurse researcher whose scholarship advances the science and the body of knowledge that advances health equity. The research or scholarship of this award should be or have the potential to be disseminated widely as best or promising practices.
Lucero’s research focuses on improving health outcomes of vulnerable populations using innovative health systems and informatics approaches. Two of his focus areas are enhancing the quality of care for hospitalized older adults and improving self-management of chronic health conditions among Hispanic, African American and LGBTQ+ populations. His research is leading the way to inform infrastructure development for data-driven knowledge generation that serves as a model for organizations across the United States to improve the quality of care for hospitalized older adults. Read more.
M. Rebecca O’Connor, PhD, RN, the University of Washington School of Nursing, is the recipient of the 2024 Equity-Minded Nurse Educator Award. Co-sponsored by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, this award recognizes a nurse educator whose efforts demonstrate excellence in diversifying the nursing student body, inclusive teaching/learning practices, and whose teaching and/or curriculum design include topics that lead to the graduation of equity-minded nurses.
O’Connor is an associate professor in the University of Washington School of Nursing (SON), and an inaugural Betty Irene Moore Nurse Leaders and Innovators Fellow. Her research, teaching, and service reflect her commitment to addressing bias in nursing and beyond. She collaboratively designed and leads the Implicit Bias Clinical Education Program (IBIASTM) to develop bias-interrupting habits among future nurses, implicit bias training for interdisciplinary health sciences students, faculty, and research teams nationally, and an Anti-racism and DEI Teaching Institute for SON faculty. O’Connor received the Excellence in Promoting Diversity Through Teaching Award in 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2021 and Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award in 2022. Read more.
Antonia M. Villarruel, PhD, RN, FAAN, Professor, and the Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing at University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, who chairs the Campaign’s Strategic Advisory Committee, said the following about the award and 2024 honorees:
“Dismantling the structural barriers to equitable health care for all people continues to be one of nursing’s top priorities. Each awardee takes a unique approach to this challenge in their work, and it is such an exciting cohort this year! We are pleased to partner with national nursing organizations to recognize the many different ways in which nurses, and nursing, advance health equity. Education, practice, and research are synergistic in nursing. We benefit from experienced, courageous leadership and we need passionate rising stars to keep moving us forward. We are fortunate to have these five extraordinary nurses in our ranks, and I am grateful for their contributions.”
Villarruel will recognize and celebrate the five awardees at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor. The dinner is part of a two-day workshop hosted by the AARP Center for Health Equity through Nursing on mentoring for success for schools of nursing.
The Campaign defines equity-mindedness as so deeply understanding and embracing health equity, social justice, anti-racism, and cultural humility that these concepts emerge as normalized, automatic and default thought processes no matter the setting or the group of people they work with.
The Campaign wishes to acknowledge the thought leadership of Piri Ackerman Barger, PhD, RN, FAAN, associate dean for Student Affairs and Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and clinical professor at the University of California Davis Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, for her role in shaping the Campaign’s equity-minded nurse initiative as its health equity senior fellow.
Learn about the Equity-Minded Nurse Initiative.
Meet the 2023 Equity-Minded Nurse awardees.
Learn about the awards.
The AARP Center for Health Equity through Nursing (A-CHEN) was founded to align nurse leadership and consumer voices to end structural barriers to health and well-being. It serves as a vehicle for change, hosting specific programs and activities that align with AARP’s health equity priorities.
The Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action is a national initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP and RWJF, guided by the National Academy of Medicine’s evidence-based recommendations on the future of nursing 2020-2030, Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity, which explores nursing’s pivotal role in advancing health equity. The Campaign includes Action Coalitions in many states and the District of Columbia and a wide range of health care professionals, consumer advocates, policymakers, and the business, academic, and philanthropic communities. The Center to Champion Nursing in America, an initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP and RWJF, serves as the coordinating entity for the Campaign.
Learn more at www.campaignforaction.org. Follow on Twitter/X at @Campaign4Action and on Facebook.
Thank you to our co-sponsors:
