The American Academy of Nurses is dedicated to transforming health systems. Its 2,800 Fellows and their governing board of directors have a mission that includes enhancing the quality of health and nursing care, reducing health disparities and inequalities, shaping healthy behaviors and environments, and strengthening the nursing and health delivery system. Each year the Academy identifies a small group of members who have made remarkable, multiple contributions to society at large and the nursing profession in particular, designating them as Living Legends and celebrating them at the organization’s annual Health Policy Conference taking place October 27th through 29th of 2022.
The Academy has announced that it has chosen six nurse leaders to receive the 2022 Living Legend honor. A release revealing the recipients of the Academy’s highest designation notes that “[t]hrough their tenacity and vision for how the nursing profession can lead system change, they have made an indelible impact on policy and public health.”
The six recipients are:
- Jane Barnsteiner, PhD, RN, FAAN
Professor Emerita at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and Editor of Translational Research and Quality Improvement for the American Journal of Nursing (AJN), she is a highly respected leader and early innovator in the development and implementation of programs that improve quality, safety, and evidence-based practice. Her signature efforts have focused on ensuring that practice is evidence based, that academics relevant to real-world practice through improved cohesion between service and educational institutions. Prior to her current position she served as Director of Nursing for Translational Research at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and as Director of Nursing Practice and Research at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Get job matches in your area + answers to all your nursing career questions
- William L. Holzemer, PhD, RN, FAAN
Distinguished Professor and Dean Emeritus of the School of Nursing at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, he also serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the Japan Journal of Nursing Science and is Professor Emeritus at the University of California San Francisco School of Nursing and Distinguished Honorary Professor at St. Luke’s University, Tokyo. His work, which has been recognized by the World Health Organization and the U.S. Department of State, has transformed the care that patients with HIV/AIDS have received as well as the research aimed at improving the quality of life of patients and their families. He is internationally recognized for striving to eliminate stigma and address the health disparities that HIV/AIDS creates, as well as for addressing the challenges of medication adherence and symptom management.
- Jeanette Ives Erickson, DNP, RN, FAAN
Currently serving as interim CEO and President of Nantucket Cottage Hospital, Chief Nurse Emerita at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), an Instructor at Harvard Medical School, and Chair of the Board of Trustees and a Professor at MGH Institute of Health Professions, Dr. Ives Erickson is noted for her leadership in improving health outcomes, her patient advocacy, and her mentoring of nursing professionals. Her achievements include having developed nurse training programs and other innovations that have been implemented nationally and internationally to improve the care environment and the establishment of a field hospital at the Boston Convention Center during the early days of the global COVID-19 pandemic. These actions, as well as her dedication to research and education, are examples of her dedication to advancing public health and improving outcomes.
- Norma Martinez Rogers, PhD, RN, FAAN
Professor Emeritus at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio (UTHSC San Antonio) School of Nursing and past- and current President of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses, she is the founder of multiple high-impact organizations, including Martinez Street Women’s Center and the International Association of Latino Nurse Faculty. The former provides support and educational services to women and female adolescents, while the latter hosts the Cultural Inclusion Institute. She was UTHSC San Antonio’s first and only full tenured Latina Professor, and while there she created a peer-to-peer mentoring program for nursing students called Juntos Podemos (Together We Can.)
- Joyce Newman Giger, EdD, APRN-BC, FAAN
Professor at Florida International University College of Nursing and previously President of the American University of Health Sciences; Professor and Lulu Wolf Endowed Chair, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); Professor of Graduate Studies, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Dean, School of Nursing, Columbus State University; and Founding Dean, Bethel College, Dr. Newman Giger is a trailblazer in improving outcomes for patients of color and of raising awareness of the unique health factors that they face. Her appointment as a tenured professor oat UCLA’s School of Nursing marked the first time in the institution’s history that an African American nurse had held such a position. Her efforts and the many publications she’s written have transformed nursing standards in the delivery of culturally-appropriate patient care and her research has effected real change in eliminating racism, investigating social determinants of health, and promoting equity in care.
- Franklin A. Shaffer, EdD, RN, FAAN, FFNMRCSI
Recently appointed to serve on the Board of the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CoNGO), Dr. Shaffer is also President and Chief Executive Officer of CGFNS International Inc. (formerly known as the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools. His six-decade-long career has blended clinical practice and education, research and consultation, administration, regulation, credentialing, standards and quality, and global collaboration. His efforts have made a significant difference in how nurses practicing in a wide range of settings are perceived and in the quality of their education, and he has dedicated significant resources to supporting nursing institutions, to challenging norms, and to improving outcomes.
Get job matches in your area + answers to all your nursing career questions
These remarkable nursing professionals exemplify the best of what the nursing profession can be, making invaluable and lasting contributions to society, to patient, health, to research, and to nursing education.
