List of 100+ Outstanding Women Nurses and Midwives
To mark the end of the Year of the Nurse and Midwife, WHO honored to unveil the 2020 List of 100+ Outstanding Women Nurses and Midwives. This partnership of the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Nursing Now, International Council of Nurses (ICN), International Confederation of Midwives (ICM), and Women in Global Health (WGH), features the achievements and contributions of nurses and midwives from 43 countries and across 6 global regions, to recognize these women and the millions of nurses and midwives around the world.
Debrah Lewis
(TTO) TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: MIDWIFE
Nominee Highlights:
Debrah Lewis is a regional leader in midwifery. She was a founder of the Caribbean Regional Midwives Association and has worked extensively with ICM: sitting on the Board, serving post as Vice-President, and she is currently a Co-Chair of ICM’s Scientific Programme and Planning Committee. Debrah Lewis has been very active in the COVID-19 response, responsible for developing, implementing and updating clinical and administrative policies. She is committed to understanding and addressing the strengths and weaknesses of the regional response, and is also a member of the Board of the Regional Health Authority.
Gabriela Melendez
(GTM) GUATEMALA: MIDWIFE AND NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Gabriela Melendez is a nurse-midwife from Guatemala who has championed a multicultural approach in Guatemala, training young indigenous women to provide quality midwifery care in isolated rural communities. She is also the founder of Asociación Corazón del Agua, a civil society organization that provides access to quality care for low-income women in need through midwifery.
Maggie Chirwa
(RWA) RWANDA: MIDWIFE AND NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Maggie Chirwa is a State Registered Nurse and Midwife as well as a social entrepreneur with her MBA and a degree in marketing, with a specialty in project management in Kigali, Rwanda, with more than eighteen years of experience working in both private and public-sector organizations. Maggie Chirwa developed One Family Health Rwanda’s unique 130 last mile health care outlets, 110 of which are still successfully operating, using a sustainable franchise model, leading a team of sixteen full-time and two part-time to service more than ten percent of the rural Rwandan population. She has also facilitated the communication of information about the pandemic in the hardest to reach villages across Rwanda in support of the Ministry of Health Primary Health Care teams and oversaw the delivery of PPE supplies to frontline workers via motorbikes.
Melissa Dogbe Dede
(TGO) TOGO: MIDWIFE
Nominee Highlights:
Dogbe Dede is a young midwife dedicated to educating young people about responsible sexual behaviour. She has also supported young mothers during pregnancy, childbirth, and in the postnatal period in disadvantaged urban areas. Dogbe Dede is now seeking to expand her knowledge through a master’s degree in reproductive health, for which she received a scholarship from the African Union Commission.
Hilma Shikwambi, MSN
(NAM) NAMIBIA: MIDWIFE
Nominee Highlights:
Hilma Shikwambi is a passionate midwife from Windhoek, Namibia. She is Head of the Department of Nursing and Midwifery at the International University of Management (IUM) and is the founder and chairperson of the Independent Midwives Association of Namibia (IMANA). Within her country, Hilma Shikwambi has built strong relationships with various partners including government, UN agencies, development partners, academia, civil society organizations and communities. She is also a board member with the International Confederation of Midwives, representing the Africa Region (Anglophone).
Dicko Fatoumata S Maiga, MA
(SEN) SENEGAL: MIDWIFE
Nominee Highlights:
Dicko Fatoumouta is a midwife from Senegal. Throughout her career, she’s held a number of senior positions within the maternal and child health sector and is currently working with the West African Health Organisation (WAHO) providing training to nurses and midwives. She is also a board member with the International Confederation of Midwives, representing the Africa Region (Francophone).
Annette Kennedy
(IRE) IRELAND: MIDWIFE
Nominee Highlights:
Annette Kennedy, the current President of The International Council of Nursing (ICN), is a dedicated nursing leader who possesses vision and leadership to advance nursing and midwifery practice and steer the professional development of nurses. She is a Registered Nurses and Midwife with a strong record of being a nursing and midwifery leader in Ireland for over 20 years. Her career spans all levels of healthcare, ranging from providing health services in various healthcare settings to working internationally to engage national nurses associations (NNAs) around the world and help craft global health policy on non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
Sally Pairman, DMid MA, RM, RGON
(NZL) NEW ZEALAND: MIDWIFE
Nominee Highlights:
Sally Pairman is a midwife from New Zealand and the Chief Executive of the International Confederation of Midwives. Before that, she had a 35-year career spanning all aspects of midwifery – practice, education, regulation, professionalism and politics including roles as President of the New Zealand College of Midwives and inaugural Chair of the Midwifery Council of New Zealand. Sally Pairman is passionate about midwives and midwifery and believes strong midwives’ associations can incite changes in their countries to ensure strong midwifery professions.
Platel Claudine
(HTI) HAITI: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Platel Claudine is a nurse who specialized in community health. She works in communities to improve nutrition among vulnerable populations. Her aim is to help eliminate malnutrition in women and children in Haiti.
Tekla Shipahu Natangwe Shindi-Mbidi
(NAM) NAMIBIA: MIDWIFE AND NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Tekla Shipahu Natangwe Shindi-Mbidi is a nursing and midwifery leader and educator who has a vested interest in developing and inspiring the next generation of young nurses and midwives. She is a Young Midwife Leader under the ICM Young Midwife Leaders program, a title she exemplified as she immediately volunteered to work on the Infection Prevention and Control Committee for the response to the COVID pandemic at the national level in Namibia while ensuring her students received a quality education and remained engaged in transitioning them online learning at the start of the pandemic.
Teja Skodic Zaksek, PhD
(SVN) SLOVENIA: MIDWIFE
Nominee Highlights:
For the first time in history, Teja Skodic Zaksek gathered midwives from four Balkan countries representing three different religions, to successfully collaborate and work for women’s health optimization, as the founder and now president of the Balkan Association of Midwives. She is the only midwife holding a Ph.D. in midwifery in the region while working as an independent midwife. Zaksek works to disseminate knowledge to all the midwives in Balkan countries and elevate the voices of midwives as independent researchers and practitioners. Additionally, during COVID-19, Teja has ensured homebirth services for women in three different countries despite difficulty accessing the areas.
Mary Ozuruonye Agholor
(NGA) NIGERIA: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Mary Ozuruonye Agholor is exceptionally talented and innovative. She is the first Nigerian nurse to become a broadcaster with a functioning radio station, the “Nightingale Radio Station.” The station has become a rallying point and voice of Nurses in Nigeria, by creating health awareness, preventive medicine advocacy, and increasing the availability of health information.
Edidiong Asanga
(NGA) NIGERIA: MIDWIFE AND NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Edidiong Asanga is the only nurse-midwife in her area who uses American and Nigerian Sign Language to communicate with hearing-impaired patients. She works to improve healthcare access and inclusivity for hearing-impaired patients in Awka Ibom State, South-South Nigeria by training other nurses in ASL and NSL.
Yoko Shimpuku
(JPN) JAPAN: MIDWIFE AND NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Dr. Yoko Shimpuku is a Professor at the Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences at Hiroshima University in Japan with over 20 years of experience in both academic and practical midwifery. She established the first midwifery Masters programme in Tanzania and more recently developed an educational smartphone app for midwives in the same country. Professor Shimpuku is also a champion for young academics worldwide and holds leading roles in the Global Young Academy and Young Academy Japan organizations.
Albertha Freeman
(LBR) LIBERIA: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Albertha Freeman is a nurse, Community Health Service Supervisor and community health advocate working to expand access to quality healthcare for remote communities across Liberia. She was recognized as a Heroine of Health by Women in Global Health in 2019, and has spoken on behalf of her cause at international events such as the World Health Assembly and Women in Global Health Gala. She raises her voice to call for improvements to community-based primary health care at any opportunity she gets. Albertha is a bold leader in the movement for universal health coverage.
Viola Mukami Karanja
(LBR) LIBERIA: MIDWIFE AND NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
The first female and first African Deputy Executive Director for Partners In Health in history, Viola Mukami Karanja’s tireless efforts in Liberia has led to a lasting positive impact on the country’s healthcare system. With her guidance and training, she moulded the next generation of Liberia’s nursing leadership, who have since gone on to make their own substantial contributions to the country’s future. Beyond this, Ms. Karanja’s initiatives in women and children’s health went on to substantially increase the low birth weight infant survival rate and reduce maternal mortality.
Ivy Ahiney Tetteh
(GHA) GHANA: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Driven by her passion for women’s and children’s health, Ivy Ahiney Tetteh, a Sogakope District Hospital Nursing Officer, has managed to achieve amazing results with limited resources. Not only did her efforts directly result in the establishment of the hospital’s NICU and Cervical Cancer Screening Unit, but her advocacy and community outreach programmes on cervical cancer and neonatal health have gone on to positively impact women and their families in the region.
Etti Rosenberg
(ISR) ISRAEL: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Etti Rosenberg is a policy nurse and social media entrepreneur who leverages the power of social media to shed light on the hard work and struggles of the nursing community in Israel.
Margareta Bruckner, MBA, MSc, DGKP
(AUT) AUSTRIA: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Margareta Bruckner is the nursing director of a hospital, head of the Local Government Nursing Directors-Group, and a member of the Austrian Nurse Directors Association. She has dedicated her career to the field of nursing and is a vocal advocate within her community. Bruckner meets frequently with local politicians and government members, speaking passionately about the future of nursing in Austria.
Margret Seela
(UGA) UGANDA: MIDWIFE
Nominee Highlights:
Margret Seela, an experienced neonatal nurse with a background in midwifery, serves as the Discharge Coordinator at Uganda’s Kiwoko Hospital. Her work has been integral in the development of a number of highly impactful programmes aimed at ensuring the health and wellbeing of children with disabilities, high-risk infants, and their families.
Norma Haydee Acosta Berrelleza, MA
(MEX) MEXICO: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Norma Haydee Acosta Berrelleza is a nurse currently working at the Institute for Professional Nurses in Brazil. She is committed to carrying out her functions of innovating education, leadership, and community-based programmes.
Manju Dhandapani, MA MSc PhD
(IND) INDIA: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Dr. Manju Dhandapani is a neuroscience nursing expert who has made major contributions to the field of neuroscience nursing research and practice in India. Her work has led to the development of specialized neuro nursing roles and the establishment of the first stroke survivor and caregiver support group in India. Dr. Dhandapani’s actions and research during the COVID-19 outbreak in India were critical to the development of effective and safe procedures regarding the use of PPE, and the training she developed has gone on to protect medical workers on the front line.
SookJa Kim
(KOR) SOUTH KOREA: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
SookJa Kim has almost four decades of experience in nursing and healthcare policy creation, having directly contributed to South Korean policies focused on developing rural healthcare centres.
Betty Sam
(SLE) SIERRA LEONE: MIDWIFE AND NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Betty Sam is a nurse and midwife with over 20 years of professional work experience in Sierra Leone, where she is a household name. She has been a key in providing technical support in improving midwifery services in the country. In the post-war period, Sam was instrumental in coordinating the revival of the Sierra Leone Midwives Association. She has worked with organizations including the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, consulting on maternal, sexual and reproductive health programs both within Sierra Leone and at the international level through the International Confederation of Midwives. Building on her leadership experience in the Ebola response, during the current pandemic, Sam has been working with community health workers to help sensitize communities, and to reduce fears and misinformation around COVID-19.
Caroline Homer, RM, MN, MMedSc (ClinEpi), PhD
(AUS) AUSTRALIA: MIDWIFE
Nominee Highlights:
Professor Caroline Homer is a leading midwifery researcher in Australia and has an international reputation as a scholar and leader in maternal and newborn health care. She is the Co-Program Director: Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health, at the Burnet Institute and Visiting Professor of Midwifery, at the University of Technology Sydney. response. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Caroline has set up research projects and collaborated with UNFPA to develop a technical brief for midwives, nurses and doctors on undertaking antenatal and postnatal care during the COVID-19 response. She is planning research for 2021 that will look at the longer-term impacts of COVID-19 to advise the government, NGOs and civil society on the best responses to improve services and to improve pandemic preparedness planning for the future.
Viviane Mukakarara
(RWA) RWANDA: MIDWIFE AND NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Viviane Mukakarara is an established trainer of medical professionals in Rwanda with over 40 years of experience in nursing, training, development of healthcare standards, and the establishment of sustainable and high quality primary health care facilities in rural regions of the country. Her unparalleled determination and quality-driven focus has led to the mass training of nurse-entrepreneurs and the implementation of healthcare standards and monitoring systems to support them, all achieved with limited resources.
Catherine Holliday
(AUS) AUSTRALIA: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Catherine Holliday is Chief Executive of the Centre for Community-Driven Research (CCDR), a non-profit organization that conducts patient experience and expectations research and supports community engagement initiatives in the health sector. Catherine is proud to be a Registered Nurse and developed a model of community-based telehealth nurse case management that has now been implemented across multiple disease areas. She is telehealth nurse in rare, genetic and complex diseases, including oncology, and her professional work has focused on developing community-based solutions to health system challenges.
Anuli Isichei
(NGA) NIGERIA: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Anuli Isichei is a registered nurse currently working in Nigeria, where she is a program manager for the Healthcare Leadership Academy. Isichei designs curriculum, serves as a faculty mentor, and is responsible for developing strategic partnerships including working closely with the nursing and midwifery council of Nigeria to build the capacity of healthcare stewards across Sub-Saharan Africa. Isichei’s work has deeply impacted nursing and midwifery by empowering nurses to advocate for policies in their sphere of influence and to sit at the decision-making table.
Rozina Karmaliani, PhD
(PAK) PAKISTAN: MIDWIFE AND NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
After training as a nurse and midwife, Dr. Rozina Karmaliani has spent decades working to inspire and empower others. Her efforts are currently focused on improving adolescent health, the development and strengthening of research capacities, and the integration of research into education and practice.
Ank de Jonge
(NLD) NETHERLANDS: MIDWIFE AND NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Professor Ank de Jonge is the first Dutch midwife professor and is currently a primary care midwife. She conducts research on the safety of home births, as well as the importance of trust for women.
Nailantei Kileku Elizabeth
(KEN) KENYA: MIDWIFE AND NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Nailantei Kileku is a nurse and midwife working in Kisumu, Kenya where she coordinates reproductive health activities. Fondly referred to as ‘The Maasai Nurse’ by her community, Nailantei Kileku is actively engaged in bringing together the community and health care providers in advocating for quality service provision to reduce preventable deaths. During COVID-19 she has played an active role in ensuring pregnant women receive the care they need.
Samina Vertejee
(PAK) PAKISTAN: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Samina Vertejee brings together her practical and academic expertise to effect policy change for the care of older people.
Chepkirui Hildah Koech
(KEN) KENYA: MIDWIFE AND NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Chepkirui Hildah Koech is a nurse and midwife with Kericho County Government and a passionate health equity advocate. Building on experiences with past roles in policy development, and observing the response to COVID-19, she is now motivated to ensure the experiences of nurses are well reflected in future planning.
Catherine Chacha Men’ganyi
(KEN) KENYA: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
She has changed the lives of young girls and women for the better in a community where women are frequently violated.
Lynette Kosgei
(KEN) KENYA: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Lynette Kosgei is a nurse who has been on the frontlines of the HIV epidemic in Kenya. She was the sole provider at the Asayi Health Dispensary for five years, single-handedly treating over 5,000 people. With additional training, she has grown the clinic and is now able to better serve her community and train others.
Manila Prak
(KHM) CAMBODIA: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Manila Prak, MNSc is currently the President of the newly formed Cambodia Nurses Association. Recently, she was accepted to be a fellow at the International Council of Nursing in Geneva, Switzerland. Prak has led work in policy development with the Ministry of Health on Standards of Practice for Nurses, Code of Ethics for Nurses, Nursing Process Framework, and Nursing & Midwifery Protocols in Cambodia. Currently, Prak spends her time addressing policy issues and overseeing the implementation of the Saving Babies’ Lives program at Angkor Hospital for Children.
Fredah Khavai Shibonje
(KEN) KENYA: MIDWIFE
Nominee Highlights:
At the age of 83, Fredah Khavai Shibonje, also known as “The Royal Midwife” is a community midwife champion. She has delivered women by the roadside, at home, and one time at a public bus station in Nairobi. Among the thousands of babies she has delivered is the current President, His Excellency Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta. In addition to being a midwife, she is a leader in health promotion and in combating HIV stigma.
Neelam Punjani
(CAN) CANADA: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Neelam Punjani, BScN, MScN, PhD is passionate about advancing the rights of young girls, by improving access to sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) information. She co-founded the CREATE training program, which has successfully trained over 200 SRHR trainers impacting around 10,000 girls, youth, women. Punjani was motivated to become a nurse and work with women after her own experience growing up in a patriarchal society where speaking about women’s rights is considered a taboo. For Punjani, being a nurse and advocating for women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights is the best job in the world.
Marcia Petrini
(USA) UNITED STATES: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, when countries like Romania and Bosnia Herzegovina lacked the infrastructure to support effective health care services, Dr. Petrini, through her work with Project HOPE and collaboration with numerous other partners, engaged the Ministries of Health to establish effective primary care services for the populations as they transitioned from tertiary to primary care. By far Dr. Petrini’s most extensive contribution in the area of human capital development has been in key universities in China. From Wuhan to Shanghai to Beijing and beyond, she has enhanced faculty in their curriculum development, teaching, and scholarly activities such as research and publications. She also led the team responsible for building a state of the art Pediatric Hospital in Shanghai. In the early 1960s she was engaged in revising the New York, USA, Nurse Practice Act, to define nursing as an independent profession with interdependent relationships, in particular with physicians. This watershed act embodied the definition of nursing for the American Nurses Association, WHO, and many other countries. In addition, as part of her healthy public policy work as a member of the organized nursing profession, she played a leadership role in getting Child Abuse legislation passed first in New York state and then at the federal level in the USA. This act made nurses mandatory reporters for child abuse in the USA, and later throughout many other countries. In the 1980s, Dr. Petrini was involved in passing a state law to place a warning on bottles of liquor and in bars, about the impact of alcohol on pregnant women causing conditions ranging from fetal alcohol syndrome to learning disabilities, and other neurological conditions.
Jennifer Dohrn
(USA) UNITED STATES: MIDWIFE AND NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Dr. Jennifer Dohrn, in partnership with the midwifery leadership of Dr. Ruth Lubic, initiated the first freestanding birthing center to serve women with minimal access to perinatal services in 1988. Dr. Dohrn facilitated an increase in first-trimester enrollment to 90% within the first five years of the clinic’s opening in the Southwest Bronx neighborhood of New York City. When the HIV epidemic entered the community in the early 1990s, Dr. Dohrn advocated for and helped change the protocol for HIV-positive pregnant women, allowing them to receive care at the Center. As Project Director of Global Nurse Capacity Building Program from its inception in May 2009 until October 2013, Dr. Dohrn built a team of midwives nurses in 10 Sub-Saharan African countries to transform the capacity of the nursing workforce at the educational, clinical, regulatory, and policy levels, to meet the health demands of the HIV pandemic and strengthen health care systems for primary care. She built relationships with multiple Ministries of Health to ensure the programme was sustainable within each nation’s strategic plans for human resources development. She was a consultant in the development and writing of WHO’s Strategic Directions for Nursing and Midwifery 2016-2020.
Elizabeth Madigan
(USA) UNITED STATES: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Dr. Elizabeth Madigan and her organization, Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing, continue to provide the education nurses needed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Madigan supported nurses who were in clinical leadership positions on ethics and communications. In parallel, she led educational sessions for nursing students and faculty, focusing on challenges and circumstances that surfaced because of the pandemic. She also commissioned the Free-CPD programs for the nurses who were not able to attain continuing professional development hours. Currently, Dr. Madigan is establishing The Resilient Nurse Resource Center, a center designed to support nurses globally and will equip nurses with free educational resources.
Sarah Walji, RN
(CAN) CANADA: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Sarah Walji is a mental health nurse and COVID-19 specialist, also on the board of Nursing Now. She is an advocate for increased youth presence and active involvement within health leadership, education and governance globally. Her interests include global health, governance, youth engagement and education through digital innovation.
Graciela Cadet, MBA
(HTI) HAITI: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Graciela is a nurse leader passionate about improving the Haitian health system for all. After three years as the ICU manager at Hôpital Universitaire de Mirebalais in Haiti, she was promoted to Deputy Chief Nursing Officer. Ms. Cadet is also a flight nurse with the Haiti Air Ambulance team. She has progressed as a leader by empowering her staff to lead initiatives that help improve the quality of critical care for patients.
Cornety Nakiganda
(UGA) UGANDA: MIDWIFE
Nominee Highlights:
With over 40 years of experience in midwifery and community-based care, Cornety Nakiganda is a trusted member of her community. Cornety currently manages over 100 health workers as part of the Community Midwife in Adara Development’s Hospital to Home (H2H) initiative, providing invaluable followup support to vulnerable newborns and their families. Her tireless dedication in this field was noted by the Ugandan Ministry of Health in 2019, who awarded her the title of Newborn Champion.
Christine Otai
(UGA) UGANDA: MIDWIFE
Nominee Highlights:
Christine Otai is a nationally recognized midwife from Uganda, who has dedicated her career and life to improving child and maternal health. Her strong leadership has helped to improve the care options for Ugandans at regional hospitals and to build up the midwifery workforce.
Liliana Bravo Sierra
(MEX) MEXICO: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Liliana Bravo Sierra is a nursing student in Mexicali Baja California. She is dedicated to the practice of nursing and caring for patients. She is passionate about helping others, and is dedicated to leaving her school in a better state than when she began, providing a legacy for future students to follow in her path.
Katherine Jenkins, RGN, PDTN
(GBR) UNITED KINGDOM: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Katherine Jenkins is an exceptional young paediatric nurse. After working in Myanmar, Ms. Jenkins has returned to London to support the COVID-19 response, working at King’s College Hospital.
Barbara Viquez Saucedo
(MEX) MEXICO: MIDWIFE AND NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Bárbara Viquez Saucedo began her nursing career before switching to the field of obstetrics. Ms. Viquez Saucedo is trying to change the way that pregnant women experience labour in Mexico, to be free from violence. She has developed a programme that addresses the specific issues facing Mexican women, aiming to improve maternal health and give newborns a better start in life.
Maggie Shepherd, RGN PhD
(GBR) UNITED KINGDOM: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Dr. Maggie Shepherd is an experienced nurse whose work combines scientific research in genomics with its clinical application to improve patients’ lives. Her work transforms the lives of people who are misdiagnosed with the incorrect form of diabetes, ensuring they have the correct and most effective treatment.
Juana Jimenez Sanchez
(MEX) MEXICO: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Dr. Juana Jimenez Sanchez is a nurse and General Coordinator of the Permanent Commission on Nursing for the Ministry of Health in Mexico where she has helped to develop pioneering initiatives for leadership in nursing. Her tenure in the field of nursing education has brought real change to the Mexican healthcare system and improved the lives of many patients.
Ran-Hee Seo
(KOR) SOUTH KOREA: MIDWIFE
Nominee Highlights:
Experienced midwife Ran-hee Seo established the Ilshin Midwifery in South Korea, encouraging safe and healthy natural delivery and the reduction of caesarean births in the region. The centre provides prenatal and newborn care, free delivery and breastfeeding services, and trains midwives with a strong sense of mission and service.
Dame Tina Lavender, PhD, MSc, RM, RGN
(GBR) UNITED KINGDOM: MIDWIFE AND NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Dame Tina Lavender is a registered nurse and midwife and is Professor of Midwifery and Director of the Centre for Global Women’s Health (World Health Organization Collaborating Centre) at the University of Manchester. She holds an honorary contract at St. Mary’s Hospital, Manchester. She is a Visiting Professor at the University of Nairobi. She leads a programme of research in midwifery and women’s health; her main research focus being intrapartum care. She is Associate Editor of the African Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health. Dame Lavender is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Midwives. She has played an active role in promoting improved educational midwifery standards, through a number of innovative educational projects, as well as through formal academic roles. Dame Lavender also acts as a regular Advisor to the World Health Organization, particularly in relation to research priority setting, guideline development and as a reviewer of educational materials. In 2014 Dame Lavender was awarded Faculty Researcher of the Year by Manchester University. In 2016 she was nominated as one of BBC’s 100 most inspirational women worldwide.
Saima Sachwani, RN, MScN
(PAK) PAKISTAN: MIDWIFE AND NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
As a determined public health advocate and educator, Saima Sachwani’s current focus is on creating awareness about the role of nurses in helping achieve universal health coverage. She was the first in Pakistan to introduce simulation into the community health nursing curriculum, with lasting positive impact on teaching.
Choi Younsuk
(KOR) SOUTH KOREA: MIDWIFE AND NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Choi Younsuk, Vice President of the Keimyung University Dongsan Hospital, possesses decades of experience in both nursing and hospital management. Her work on the frontlines leading the nursing department of the first COVID-19 treatment hospital in South Korea proved to be invaluable in understanding, containing and preparing other nursing departments across the country for the virus.
Emmanualla Inah
(NGA) NIGERIA: MIDWIFE AND NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
A practicing nurse and midwife from Nigeria, Emmanuella Inah’s mission is to save lives by bridging the gap between information and lack of knowledge on pregnancy. She runs the Preggy Pidgin Podcast and Safe pregnancy Africa facebook community, using these platforms to spread enlightenment and advocate for best practice in maternal and child care across rural communities in West Africa.
Wendy Yewande Olayiwola, MSc, BSc, BA, RN, RM
(GBR) UNITED KINGDOM: MIDWIFE
Nominee Highlights:
Wendy Yewande Olayiwola is an expert nurse and seasoned midwife, with an impactful career in mentoring, maternal health, and as a global health advocate as a renowned consultant and trainer in health management. She is currently the project manager for Better Births, a project with the objective of personalizing and achieving a safe environment for pregnant women and their families and ensuring continuity of care. Wendy is a passionate advocate for equality among Black and minority ethnic groups, and over the course of her 20-year career, been a catalytic changemaker in the UK.
Debra Thoms, RN RM BA MNA Grad Cert Bioethics, Adv Dip Arts FACN (DLF) FACHSM (Hon) GIA(Cert)
(AUS) AUSTRALIA: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Debra has a career spanning more than 40 years across the Australian healthcare system as a registered nurse and registered midwife with extensive management experience and capability combined with broader health management experience and expertise. Thoms’ influence has extended beyond the confines of her professional roles and responsibilities, and incorporated the personal support and mentoring of others in their communities in Australia, the Pacific – specifically Western Pacific region, and internationally.
Frances Hughes, RN, Dnurs , FAAN, FACMHN, FNZCMHN CNZM
(NZL) NEW ZEALAND: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Dr. Frances Hughes is a global health leader who unflaggingly seeks to improve care for those who desperately need it with deep compassion, commitment, integrity and social responsibility. She is a changemaker and pioneer who courageously works to transform systems, policies and innovations that care for those who are most vulnerable. She has been described as “one of the most influential nurse leaders in the world.” At the country, regional and global level, Dr. Hughes has demonstrated strategic leadership over complex health issues as a nurse. She has influenced public policy in New Zealand, Australia, across the Pacific and Internationally for over 30 years. In 2020, Dr. Hughes’ was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in Queen’s New Years Honours for her Services to Nursing and Mental Health, exemplifying the commitment and dedication that Dr. Hughes shows to transform the systems and care of vulnerable individuals and populations around the globe.
Elizabeth Halcomb, PhD
(AUS) AUSTRALIA: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Professor Elizabeth Halcomb is an international award-winning nurse academic. She was appointed the Inaugural Professor of Primary Healthcare Nursing at the University of Wollongong in 2013, one of only two Australian professorial appointments specific to primary health care nursing. At the University of Wollongong, Professor Halcomb plays a leadership role developing primary healthcare nursing research, as well as engaging multidisciplinary academics within primary healthcare to address the growing challenges in providing healthcare within the community. She is nationally and internationally recognized for her work in general practice nursing, particularly in terms of workforce and chronic disease. A key feature of Professor Halcomb’s work is the way in which she has inspired and mentored novice researchers and clinicians to develop into independent scholars and researchers.
Rukumani Tripathi
(NPL) NEPAL: MIDWIFE AND NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Rukumani is a recent nurse and midwife determined to improve the lives of all the mothers and families she meets. During COVID-19, she worked with other young midwives to provide free online and telephone counselling to pregnant
Sushma Yonzon
(NPL) NEPAL: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Sushma Yonzon is a dynamic nursing professional from a marginalized ethnic group of Nepal. She has worked in various clinical and community settings, as a trainer, nutrition officer, district coordinator and consultant for UNICEF Nepal. She is particularly compassionate about the health problems of women, living in the hard-to-reach areas.
Durga Sapkota
(NPL) NEPAL: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Durga Sapkota is a youth health advocate with more than nine years of experience in both the clinical and public health aspects of sexual, reproductive, maternal, neonatal and adolescent health. Durga Sapkota is passionate about promoting gender equality by providing awareness training on reproductive health and rights. She has been involved in research, advocacy and activism in Nepal, where she is an emerging nurse leader. She is the focal person for the Asia Safe Abortion Partnership in Nepal, and leads a youth sexual and reproductive rights advocacy organization. Durga is studying for a bachelor’s Law degree and Masters in Nursing, with a specialization in women’s health and development . She has collaborated with South Asian Regional Justice Accountability as a youth champion for reproductive rights. She has also been nominated as a young leader for Women Deliver, and is a Johnson & Johnson health ambassador for Nepal.
Yasmin Nadeem Parpio
(PAK) PAKISTAN: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Yasmin Nadeem Parpio works tirelessly to strengthen nursing curricula and to optimise the learning experiences of nursing students. She is currently undertaking a PhD on the subject of how building social skills among adolescents can reduce stress and improve resilience and quality of life.
Marina Baig
(PAK) PAKISTAN: MIDWIFE AND NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Marina Baig is a Senior Instructor at the Aga Khan University School of Nursing and Midwifery. Her work on the use of mobile health (mHealth) technology to improve antenatal care coverage and skilled delivery in rural settings is exemplary and could serve as an innovative strategy in improving maternal health outcomes.
Maria Teresa Moreno-Casbas, MSc PhD
(ESP) SPAIN: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Due to the efforts of Dr. Maria Teresa Moreno-Casbas, nursing throughout Spain benefits from scientifically rigorous and evidence-based practice. She has inspired improved care delivery, resulting in positive patient outcomes through disease prevention and treatment. Dr. Moreno-Casbas’ efforts to establish the participation of clinical nurses in research projects and scientific publications aimed at documenting the above-noted patient outcomes have been key. As a result, evidence-based nursing has been established within most of Spain’s public health institutions. Dr. Moreno-Casbas also increased the number of nurses able to understand scientific literature published in English, furthering the adoption of evidence-based practice throughout the country.
Azucena Santillan, RGN, PhD
(ESP) SPAIN: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Dr. Azucena Santillan is a registered nurse with more than ten years of experience in innovation, science, public policy, health, and human capital. She is a proud nurse who has shown society and politicians across the world that nurses are also scientists. Today, Santillan is a collaborating professor at Universidad Europea where she teaches at the postgraduate level.
Aintzane Orkaizagirre Gómara, RN, PhD
(ESP) SPAIN: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Dr. Aintzane Orkaizagirre Gómara has an academic and professional background in nursing. She has worked in the Department of Health of the Basque Government and is currently a lecturer at the University of the Basque Country.
Isobel Potani, MSc
(MWI) MALAWI: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Isobel Potani is a researcher in undernutrition with a background in nursing. She is a PhD candidate in Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto. Ms. Potani has worked in Malawi, Kenya, Sierra Leone and the USA. She is passionate about global health issues, particularly nutrition and child health.
Margaret Loma Phiri, MSN, MED, RNM
(MWI) MALAWI: MIDWIFE AND NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Margaret Loma Phiri is a nurse and midwife and has demonstrated a life-long commitment to improving quality and equity for the profession in education, practice and policy on the global level. She has worked collaboratively with stakeholders to strengthen and improve the quality of nursing and midwifery education, practice, regulation, leadership and research for improved health care outcomes, both in Malawi and across the African continent.
Yahn Soaurchhorda
(KHM) CAMBODIA: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Yahn Soaurchhorda is a certified nurse with more than five years of experience who is pioneering women’s health in Cambodia through a women’s health outreach service.
Nura Aided Ibrahim
(SOM) SOMALILAND: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Nura Aided Ibrahim is an exceptional nurse who is playing a pivotal role in improving the healthcare system in a country that has been the victim of war. Ibrahim has more than 10 years of experience working in health and education projects in Somaliland with partners including national and governments, teachers, health training institutions, hospitals and health posts.
Ani Khmaladze
(GEO) GEORGIA: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Ani Khmaladze is a leader in oncology nursing in Georgia. She currently works at the Todua Research Institute of Clinical Medicine, Tbilisi, Georgia. In the European Oncology Nursing Society, Khmaladze is the chair and representative from the Georgian Oncology Nursing Society, which she helped found to bring oncology nurses together in her country.
Jessica Marian Goodman Casanova
(ESP) SPAIN: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Jessica Marian Goodman Casanova is a nurse and researcher engaged in the development and implementation of telehealth technologies, an area of great need during the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak. Her research has contributed to the empowerment of older people living with mild dementia and their caregivers over this period, largely through TV-based health and social support interventions and telephone-based support. She believes that nurses must emerge as leaders in enhancing and coordinating technology-based care delivery and support
Carmen Ferrer Arnedo, PhD
(ESP) SPAIN: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Dr. Carmen Ferrer Arnedo was the first nurse in history to become the Director of a Madrid Public Health hospital. Her efforts in Spain have led to increased visibility surrounding the nursing profession and the right to active participation in leadership, the empowerment of patients and caregivers, and the concept of the nurse as a trainer in self-care and recovery. One of 24 health experts called by the Spanish government to plan and lead recovery efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Ardeno oversaw initiatives that went on to positively impact thousands of patients and healthcare workers affected by the outbreak.
Sadaf Saleem Murad, MN, RN, GNC
(CAN) CANADA: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Sadaf Saleem is a registered nurse, educator, clinician and researcher, who believes in quality outcomes and learner-centered approaches. She specialized in the field of gerontology (aging) and nursing education and has worked in these areas for over 10 years. Sadaf uses critical social theory, relational inquiry, and a humanistic approach to engage digital age learners. As a nurse, she is striving to bring change with research and education globally. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she created online resources for older adults fighting depression and social isolation, in addition to developing a hybrid version of her clinical teaching materials within 48 hours.
Shela Hirani, RN, PhD, MScN
(CAN) CANADA: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Dr. Shela Hirani is a lactation consultant, registered nurse researcher and academic striving to promote, protect and support breastfeeding during COVID-19. Throughout her career, she has been actively involved in work across health equity, health systems, and programs, with attention to policies that often negatively affect the health and wellbeing of marginalized and vulnerable groups of women and young children in Canada and Pakistan. Her professional goal is to make a difference in the lives of underprivileged children and marginalized women through her research work, leadership, and community services. In response to COVID-19, Dr. Hirani has developed a knowledge mobilization tool to promote, protect and support breastfeeding during the pandemic.
Irmajean Bajnok, RN, MScN, PhD
(CAN) CANADA: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Dr. Irmajean Bajnok is an international nurse leader who, over the last few decades, has influenced and impacted policies and the nursing ecosystems in multiple countries. Within the nursing profession and practice, she is recognized globally as an agent of change for her innovative work in implementation science. Over the course of her career, Dr. Bajnok has introduced various innovative and cutting edge programmes that have resulted in substantial positive changes to nursing and health communities. She has played key roles in major system innovations in education, policy and practice, focusing on the strengthening of health systems in Canada and internationally. As of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, Dr. Bajnok has served as the Acting Director of Policy at the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario.
Nester Moyo, RM, MSc
(NLD) NETHERLANDS: MIDWIFE
Nominee Highlights:
Nester Moyo is a global midwifery advisor originally from Zimbabwe with over 30 years of experience. She currently specializes in midwifery education and training and has been integral to the development and implementation of numerous impactful national, regional and global level healthcare programmes.
Delkontee King
(LBR) LIBERIA: MIDWIFE AND NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Delkontee King is a nurse and midwife developed a family planning initiative in Monrovia, Liberia. Her initiative conducts community-based family planning education and well as home-based health services.
Roa Altaweli
(SAU) SAUDI ARABIA: MIDWIFE
Nominee Highlights:
Roa is the first midwife to receive a PhD in Saudi Arabia. She is a founding board member and the chairperson of the Saudi Midwifery Group and the ICM board member for the Eastern Mediterranean Region. Altaweli is the Director of the Midwifery Department at the Saudi Ministry of Health.
Kelly Ann Talbot, MSN, RN, CNS
(NZL) NEW ZEALAND: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Kelly Talbot shows compassion and courage beyond what is expected in her role as a nurse. She has improved health outcomes for her patients through her commitment to evidenced based research, her quality improvement initiatives and her strong leadership skills. Working tirelessly as a nurse and student nurse educator, Talbot believes that the female nursing force is undervalued, and is determined to improve the field for generations to come.
Veronica Regis
(NZL) NEW ZEALAND: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Ms. Veronica Regis is a Clinical Nurse Specialist from New Zealand, where she is deeply passionate about highlighting the significant role of nurses in improving stroke care and patients’ experience through collective action. Born in a small city in the Philippines, Regis hopes that young women across the globe are given the opportunity to participate in conversations that encourage ideas, nourish growth and unlock potentials.
Henriette Eke Mbula
(COD) DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO: MIDWIFE
Nominee Highlights:
Henriette has worked with UNFPA for nearly a decade to improve maternal health in DRC. Henriette has received multiple recognitions and distinctions both within and outside of UNFPA.
Marufa Muradi
(AFG) AFGHANISTAN: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Marufa is an accomplished nurse in Afghanistan who has had to work in difficult and challenging environments. She is passionate about quality improvement and family health education within the nursing field.
Shukria Musafirzada
(AFG) AFGHANISTAN: MIDWIFE
Nominee Highlights:
Shukria is a midwife and teacher at the French Medical Institute for Children and Mothers in Kabul, Afghanistan. There she aids in the safe delivery of newborns, improving the odds of survival for many of her patients.
Ella Skifte
(DNK) DENMARK: MIDWIFE
Nominee Highlights:
Ella Skifte has worked for many decades and tirelessly to strengthen nursing and midwifery in her country, Greenland.
Zahra Mirzaei
(AFG) AFGHANISTAN: MIDWIFE
Nominee Highlights:
Ms. Zahra Mirzaei is a midwife and educator, playing an important role in her community and province, and even on the national stage through advocacy and acceptance of community midwifery education (CME).
Madu Onyinyechi Susan RN,RM,PGD,MEHM,FIMC,CMC
(NGA) NIGERIA: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
Mrs Onyinyechi Susan Madu is a nurse practitioner whose dedication has deeply impacted the local midwifery nursing community, as well as the broader global health ecosystem. She has participated extensively in research and community care work that has positively impacted the lives of the poor and underprivileged in rural communities of Imo State, Nigeria. Susan contributes regularly to courses, healthcare, and movements at the grassroots level to improve access to quality healthcare through extensive research and intervention schemes.
Maria Jovita Pedro Miala
(NLD) NETHERLANDS: NURSE
Nominee Highlights:
After Maria graduated as a nurse in Europe, she promised herself that one day she would do something to improve the health of her community back home in Angola. Her passions are eHealth and wound care and she is the Founder/CEO of eWoundHelp, an organization that offers e-learning courses to African health workers with the most current, accurate and evidence-based information about treating wounds. She was chosen to be on WHO’s Digital Health Roster of Experts, where she is determined to use her knowledge to help more African countries use technology so that healthcare can be accessible to people living at the bottom of the pyramid.