Awards

Each year, our Section recognizes the outstanding contributions of its members through the following awards. Please submit an award nomination form.

The Lillian Wald Service Award honors agencies, individuals, organizations, or media for depicting exemplary public health nursing, especially through legislative, professional, or public advocacy.

The Ruth B. Freeman Award honors an individual who has had a distinguished career in public health administration, education, policy, practice, or research.

The Public Health Nurse Creative Achievement Award recognizes an agency's, individual's, organization's, or media's exceptional and creative contribution to public health nursing administration, education, practice, or research.

The Feleta Wilson Award honors the legacy of Dr. Feleta L. Wilson, a dedicated member of APHA PHN and a steadfast champion of public health. This award recognizes a mid-career RN or APN, who is an enthusiastic and effective leader in nursing. The award winner exhibits dedication in meeting community needs and benefiting underserved populations.

The Emerging Investigator Award, awarded by the Research Committee, honors an early-career (NIH definition) PHN Section member's work since completing a doctoral education.

Awards Committee Chair: Ruth Grubesic

2024 Award Recipients

2024: Margaret G. Arnstein Award for outstanding contributions to public health nursing was presented to Susan Valeria Coleman MPH, BSN, RN

Susan has demonstrated unwavering commitment to our communities through a remarkable array of roles and contributions. As a member of the Arlington Street People’s Assistance Network, she has been instrumental in guiding initiatives that address homelessness and support vulnerable populations. Her leadership on both the Capital Campaign Steering Committee and the President/CEO Search Committee exemplifies a commitment to ensuring that essential services were effectively delivered to this population.

Susan has also been a co-leader of the Ending Racism Workshop Planning Group and has served as Founder and Member of the Diversity and Social Justice Committee for the Association of Public Health Nurses. Her advocacy for diversity, equity, and social justice within our field is inspiring and crucial in today’s health landscape. She has also served in multiple leadership roles within the APHA PHN Section- including that of Chairperson of our section and stepped in this year to serve as the Past Chairperson for the PHN Section and has unselfishly provided her wisdom and guidance to the Chair team as well as the section.

Susan has also contributed to public health nursing by serving as a reviewer for significant publications and educational programs. She has played a vital role in shaping the next generation of public health professionals at Georgetown University, fostering innovation and collaboration in our field.

The breadth of her work—from consulting for school health initiatives to contributing to international health projects—highlights her unwavering passion for public health.

We celebrate not only Susan's accomplishments but also her relentless dedication to the principles of public health nursing. Her work exemplifies the spirit of compassion, advocacy, and professionalism that Margaret G. Arnstein embodied.

The 2024 Public Health Nurse Creative Achievement Award was presented to Virgina Allen, DNL, LPN, ADLN

Dr. Virginia Allen, LPN, DHL, ADLN, is a pioneering nurse, who in 1947 at the age of 16, joined the ranks of nurses at the New York City Tuberculosis Sanitarium- Sea View Hospital in Staten Island. As one of the Black Angels - 300 nurses that despite the segregated conditions of America at the time stayed on after white nurses in 1929 quit due to the hazards of the work. The Sanitarium provided care to disenfranchised and forgotten patients suffering from Tuberculosis. Dr. Allen and the Black Angels would work with pulmonologists to help find the cure and treat thousands at Sea View, and millions today benefit from the public health treatment advances they pioneered.

Dr. Allen would go on from Sea View Hospital in 1957 to become entrenched within worker conditions and reforms through her activity within Staten Island labor union leadership. The work of health workers, primarily nurses, needed the sage protection of those who knew first-hand how that labor had been abused especially under segregated conditions. She returned to clinical care in the 1980s working in patient and eventually ambulatory practice in an OB/GYN community practice until retirement in 2005.  Dr Allen leading with integrity and care, she and the Black Angels paved the way forward for public health nursing today – in pursuit of health equity and justice. Part of this contingent of nurses, hallmarked selfless service provided by the Black nurses working at Seaview Hospital throughout the peak of the tuberculosis epidemic, recruited from the South, the Caribbean, and Asian countries to fill the void. As one of the last living Black Angels, Allen has received acclaim for her years of service at that critical time in the history of healthcare in the United States.

Dr. Allen has been a nurse for 77 years, with over 45 of those years in direct patient care. Her approach to advocacy, advancing nursing and black history, and service, are rooted in uplifting under represented and marginalized peoples, particularly the historical contributions of healthcare workers.

Dr. Allen is also a Fellow in the Academy of Diversity Leaders in Nursing recognizing her trailblazing leadership in nursing diversity. Her current work in amplifying the stories of the Black Angels, particularly those working before the cure for Tuberculosis was discovered, has created countless opportunities for these black nurses to be acknowledged with awards, virtual gatherings, documentary, media outlets, and an in-person at local and national conferences.

The 2024 Lillian Wald Service Award was presented to Julie Jacobson Vann, PhD, MS, RN

Dr. Jacobsen Vann is an Associate Professor and Sustainability Liaison at UNC Chapel Hill School of Nursing and serves on the Carolina Sustainability Council. She has 46 years of experience in health services, including research and evaluation, academic teaching, health services administration, and delivery of public health services. Her current advocacy work focuses on sustainability and greening of health care.

She has a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, a Maser’s degree in business with a focus on Heath Care Management, and a PhD in Health Care Policy and Administration with a minor in Epidemiology. She recently collaborated with a team of scientists with Cochrane South Africa and the South African Research Council on a vaccination-related Cochrane Collaboration systematic literature review. She engaged in evaluating outcomes, health care costs, and health services utilization associated with Medicaid demonstration programs. She has conducted contract research, evaluation, and technical service projects for a health policy research firm in Washington D.C. on national projects funded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office of Disability Employment Policy within the U.S. Department of Labor, National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

The 2024 Ruth B. Freeman Award was presented to Andréa Sonenberg, PhD, WHNP, CNM-BC, FNYAM, FNAP

Dr. Sonenberg is a Certified Nurse-Midwife, Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner, Health Services Researcher, and Registered Lobbyist improving access to care and health outcomes for vulnerable and underserved populations through practice; policy research & advocacy; and nursing education. She founded public health midwifery practices serving ethnically, racially, and socio-economically diverse communities. Dr. Sonenberg’s research focuses on policies as upstream determinants of health, with international publications and presentations on the impacts of policies on equity, health disparities, and social justice. She was Professor of graduate nursing at Pace University and appointed its first Coronavirus Coordination Officer; is volunteer faculty for Promoting Health in Haiti and Universidad do Rio Grande do Norte (Brazil); an invited member of the Rise to Health Coalition; serves on the Board of Directors of the NYS Association of Public Health, the Advisory Board of Promoting Health in Haiti; and served as co-editor for the Journal of Health and Human Services Administration-Symposium on Member Health. She established partnerships with nursing programs in Haiti, Brazil, Colombia, and Chile, supporting introduction of the APN role in the Pan American Health Organization region.

Dr. Sonenberg has BS Degrees from Cornell and Syracuse Universities (Suma Cum Laude); an MS in Midwifery from Georgetown University (Scholae Studiorum Superiorum); and a PhD, Health Policy & Research from Columbia University.

The 2024 Feleta Wilson Award was presented to Oluwatosin Olateju, DrPH, MSN-CPHN, BSN, RN

Dr. Oluwatosin Olateju is an Assistant Professor of Nursing at Coppin State University, a distinguished philanthropist, and a researcher with extensive experience in sexual health and infectious diseases.

In 2019, she established Food and Care for All Inc (FCFA), a non-profit organization promoting food security, access to health services, and health education for underserved populations in the United States and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Dr. Olateju received her Master of Science in Nursing and Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Maryland Baltimore. As a dedicated learner, she earned her Doctor of Public Health degree from Morgan State University.

For over a decade, Dr. Olateju has dedicated herself to imparting her knowledge to undergraduate and graduate nursing and public health students at various academic institutions. She has also contributed to improving the health and well-being of populations across the globe through her service as a clinical nurse, grassroots public health nurse leader in U.S. government agencies, mentor, educator promoting health literacy in rural secondary schools in Africa, and most importantly, as a policy advocate promoting health equity and social justice.

Dr. Olateju has extensively published and presented on the international, national, and regional levels and has served within many national, state, and local professional agencies. In 2023, she was appointed by Governor Wes Moore to serve as Co-Chair of Maryland's Commission on Public Health and lead the commission's efforts to improve the state's public health system.

Dr. Rachel Lyons is an Assistant Professor of Nursing and is a distinguished pediatric nurse practitioner and researcher with extensive experience in pediatric care and nursing education.

Dr. Lyons received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing from the University of Rhode Island in 1997 and a Master of Science in Nursing from Boston College in 2002. As a dedicated learner and clinician, Dr. Lyons received her Doctor of Nursing Practice from Columbia University in 2007 and a Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing from Duquesne University in 2022.

For over two and a half decades, Dr. Lyons has imparted her wealth of knowledge to undergraduate and graduate nursing students at various academic centers

Dr. Lyons combines her clinical expertise with a deep commitment to advancing pediatric nursing practice through research and education. She has extensively published and presented on the international, national, and regional levels and has served within many national, state, and local professional agencies. As an advocate of pediatric health and well-being, Dr. Lyons research interests are centered on the intersection of urban green space and adolescent health. As a Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner in acute and primary care, Dr. Lyons maintains her scholarly practice at Hasbro Children’s Emergency Department in Providence, RI.

Public Health Nursing Section Award Winners, 1972-Present