HIV Nursing Honors
UTHealth Houston receives four ANAC awards
Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth Houston faculty and their colleagues brought home four awards from the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (ANAC) 2023 Conference on Oct. 26 in New Orleans.
The organization’s Houston Gulf Coast Chapter, in which several faculty members are active, received the 2023 ANAC Chapter Recognition Award for the second time. Individual faculty were also honored:
- Assistant professor Sheryl Malone-Thomas, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, AACRN, received the HIV/AIDS Educator Distinguished Service Award.
- Dean Diane Santa Maria, DrPH, MSN, PHNA-BC, ACRN, FAAN, received the Lucy Bradley-Springer Excellence in HIV Prevention Award.
- Robin Hardwicke, PhD, FNP-C, AACRN, received the Joanne Ruiz Achievement for Excellence in Clinical Practice in HIV Award for the second time. Hardwicke, the president of the local ANAC chapter, is an HIV provider with UT Physicians and has academic appointments at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston and Cizik School of Nursing.
“Cizik School of Nursing, UTHealth Houston, and committed stakeholders throughout the Houston area are making a difference every day in the lives of people living with or vulnerable for acquiring HIV,” Santa Maria said. “These awards for excellence in education, prevention, and practice represent the multipronged approaches needed to end the HIV pandemic.”
The UTHealth Houston delegation also presented their work to HIV nurses from around the nation:
- Hardwicke delivered two invited presentations: “Implementing Long-Acting ART in Clinical Practice,” and “Executing the Details: How Chapters Plan Special Events.”
- Assistant Professor Veronica J. Brady, PhD, FNP-BC, BC-ADM, CDCES, FADCES, delivered an oral abstract at the podium, “The data shows what?! Prevalence of type 2 diabetes among persons with HIV and Impact of type 2 diabetes on depression and HIV symptoms.” She also presented a poster, “Quality of Life Across States of Human Immunodeficiency Virus,” by Meagan Whisenant, PhD; Brady; Roberto Arduino, MD; Jordan Lake, MD; Karen Vigil, MD; Tito Mendoza, PhD; Xin Shelly Wang, MD, PhD; Darcy, Ponce, BS; and Samuel Payen, BS.
- Malone-Thomas’ invited presentation was titled “Saving Lives with Antiretroviral Therapy Rapid Start.”
- Assistant Professor Emily Barr, PhD, RN, CPNP-PC, CNM, FAAN delivered an oral abstract at the podium, “An interdisciplinary clinical protocol designed to support people with HIV choosing to chestfeed/breastfeed their infants,” where Hardwicke was one of the co-authors.
- Santa Maria, Higinio Fernandez-Sanchez, and Alejandro Carillo presented a poster, “Lessons Learned from Conducting a Nurse-Led Community-based HIV Prevention Trial with Youth Experiencing Homelessness: Pivots and Pitfalls.”
