Prof. Jacquelyn Taylor and alumna Joyce Fitzpatrick receive national awards from ANA

The American Nurses Association (ANA) announced its 2018 National Awards recipients, including NYU Meyers professor Jacquelyn Y. Taylor, PhD, PNP-BC, RN, FAHA, FAAN, and alumna Joyce Fitzpatrick, PhD, MBA, RN, FAAN, FNAP.

ANA’s National Awards honor outstanding nurses whose dedication and achievements have contributed significantly to the nursing profession. A ceremony to honor the 12 award recipients will be held on June 22 in Washington, D.C., during ANA’s Membership Assembly.

Taylor, who is the inaugural Vernice D. Ferguson Professor in Health Equity at NYU Meyers, is the recipient of the ANA’s Mary Mahoney Award, which was created to recognize an individual who has made significant contributions to opening and advancing equal opportunities in nursing to members of minority groups. The award is named in honor of Mary Eliza Mahoney, the first African American graduate nurse in the U.S., who completed her training in 1879. A passionate believer in equality in nursing, Mahoney spent much of her life working to challenge perceptions and abolish discrimination in the field.

Taylor's research focuses on the interaction of omics and social factors that contribute to health disparities for common chronic conditions among underrepresented minority populations in the United States and abroad. Taylor was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers by President Barack Obama in January 2017, the highest honor awarded by the federal government to scientists and engineers, where she is examining next-generation sequencing-environment interactions on cardiovascular outcomes among African Americans.

Fitzpatrick, who is the Elizabeth Brooks Ford Professor of Nursing at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University, is the recipient of the ANA’s Jessie M. Scott Award. The award is named after the nurse who served as the Assistant Surgeon General and directed the nursing division of the U.S. Public Health Service (now known as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) and recognizes a nurse who has made an outstanding accomplishment in a field of practice, education, or research and demonstrates the interdependence of these elements and their significance for the improvement of nursing and healthcare.

Fitzpatrick earned her PhD in nursing education from NYU in 1975.

“ANA is honored to celebrate the extraordinary achievements of these nurses, who are exemplary leaders and advocates, and whose contributions have advanced nursing and demonstrated ANA’s impact on improving health care for all,” the ANA wrote in a press release announcing the award recipients.