2025 McGovern, DAISY Award winners
Three faculty members and a graduating Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) student received special honors at the 2025 Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth Houston commencement ceremony on May 14.
Ju, Lucas receive McGovern Awards
Each year, students select an undergraduate and a graduate faculty member to receive the John P. McGovern Outstanding Teacher of the Year Awards. Assistant Professor Joyce Ju, DNP, RN, FNP-BC, CNE, received the undergraduate award for 2025, and Sydnee Lucas, DNP, RN, FNP-BC, received the graduate award.
Ju joined the Cizik School of Nursing faculty in 2019 and teaches several courses in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program. She was recently honored in the Houston Chronicle’s Salute to Nurses as one of the Top 200 nurses in the city, and she received a silver-level “Excellence in Nursing Award” from the Good Samaritan Foundation in 2022.
Lucas is co-coordinator of the family nurse practitioner track at Cizik School of Nursing. She serves as nursing faculty for the Baylor-TMC Leadership Education in Adolescent Health (LEAH) grant through the Maternal and Child Health Bureau and as secretary for the Texas Chapter of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Lucas joined the faculty in 2021.
The awards are made possible by an endowment from the John P. McGovern Foundation. Congratulations to all of this year’s nominees:
Undergraduate:
- Jennifer Dugger, MSN, RN, CHSE
- Sandra K. Hanneman, PhD, RN, FAAN
- Brandi Showalter, PhD, RN, CCRP
Graduate:
- Doncy Eapen, PhD, MSN, FNP-BC
- Achante Tamm, DNP, CRNA
- Peter Slivinski, DNP, CRNA
- Francine Snow, DrPH, MSN, RN, CNE, NPD-BC
Kobeissi, Douglas receive DAISY Awards
The DAISY Awards is an international program recognizing nurses for clinical excellence and compassion, based on nominations from patients and colleagues.
Receiving the 2025 DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurse Educators was Associate Professor Mitzy Kobeissi, DNP, MSN, FNP-C, CPAHA. She has operated her own telehealth business since 2016 and is a widely published expert in the field. She serves on the American Heart Association’s Digital Health in Cardiac Care Advisory Group and on the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculty’s Telehealth Committee.
Laura Douglas, DNP, CCRN, NPD-BC, received the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Students. She graduated with her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) on the nurse executive track in December 2024 and received her graduate hood during the commencement ceremony. In her position with a large health system, she is involved with quality improvement activities and is dedicated to transition-to-practice for other nurses.
“Her kindness, cooperation and interdisciplinary teamwork is clearly noticed by those her know her or know of her work,” said Assistant Professor Susan Stafford, DNP, MBA, MPA, RN-BC, NEA-BC, who served as Douglas’ faculty advisor.
