AACN's award programs recognize acute and critical care professionals for their exemplary contributions and excellent care of patients and families. Please join us in congratulating the following recipients.
AACN Pioneering Spirit Award
The AACN Pioneering Spirit Award recognizes significant contributions that influence progressive and critical care nursing regionally and nationally, and relate to AACN's mission, vision and values.
Ali R. Tayyeb, PhD, RN, NPD-BC, PHN, FAAN
Tayyeb's experience in the healthcare field includes combat trauma, emergency medicine, veterans' healthcare and policy, nursing education, human patient simulation, professional development and leadership.
He is CEO of RN-Mentor Consulting, a veteran-led consulting firm dedicated to enhancing nursing practice, education and veterans' healthcare. He is also currently supporting and elevating nursing professional practice at the Institute for Health Equity at AltaMed community health network in Southern California, and holds faculty positions at several Southern California universities.
Tayyeb's research, education and advocacy interests in veteran-related topics include transition from military service, post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injuries, depression, alcohol and drug abuse, pain, suicide, family environment, disenfranchisement, policy, culture, veterans' benefits and reintegration. His work has also evolved into an exploration of systemic failures and advancing social networks to connect and advance nursing issues, while facilitating nursing discourse based on the theory of social contracts.
He currently leads the Veterans Health Campaign for the American Nurses Association/California and serves as a consultant for the Los Angeles County Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. He was recently appointed by the County of Los Angeles to lead initiatives aimed at reducing Veteran suicide rates and supporting data-driven efforts to aid the nation's veterans.
Tayyeb is a U.S. Navy veteran, having served as a Fleet Marine Force Corpsman with Naval Medical Center San Diego, 1st Marine Division and 3rd Marine Division. After his military service, Tayyeb pursued his career as a registered nurse, earning bachelor's and master's degrees in nursing from California State University, Los Angeles, and a PhD from the University of San Diego.
Thomas Ahrens, PhD, RN, FAAN
Ahrens is a national expert in the identification and management of sepsis, a leading cause of death among critically ill patients. His most recent work addresses the need to educate the public on infection prevention (e.g., cold, flu, pneumonia) in order to reduce the incidence of sepsis.
He is the co-founder, chief scientist and learning officer of Viven Health, which offers an interactive web-based learning management system designed to help the public develop safe health practices. Ahrens is actively involved in technology application, particularly in terms of sepsis, hemodynamic monitoring and capnography. Prior to Viven, Ahrens was an advanced practice nurse and then a research scientist at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis for 34 years.
He has published extensively, including five books and over 100 papers, and has lectured both nationally and internationally on critical care topics. His book "Hemodynamic Waveform Analysis" is considered by many to be the finest clinical guide on the topic. His book "Essentials of Oxygenation" was an American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year.
A member of AACN since 1979, Ahrens served as the association's representative to the Surviving Sepsis Campaign from 2006 to 2008. In 2008, AACN recognized his contributions with its Flame of Excellence award for sustained and influential work in critical care. Since 2009, he has been AACN's representative for the Critical Care Societies Collaborative, with the goal to establish a research agenda for critical care in the United States. He has also served on the editorial boards of AACN journals American Journal of Critical Care and Critical Care Nurse.
The Society of Critical Care Medicine awarded him a Presidential Citation and the American Academy of Nursing named him an Edge Runner, an award designated "for those people who are developing innovative solutions that eventually become mainstream solutions."
Christopher W. Bryan-Brown, BM, BCH, MA, FRCA, FCCM
A pioneering physician, educator and researcher specializing in anesthesiology, Bryan-Brown helped shape today's practice of critical care medicine. His early emphasis on collaborative relationships between critical care physicians, nurses and other healthcare providers strengthened the specialty and led to the formation of multi-institutional, multinational research consortiums and professional organizations.
He was a professor emeritus of anesthesiology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, Bronx, New York. He previously held academic appointments at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Houston and City University of New York's Mount Sinai Medical Center. From 1988 through 1996, he served in both clinical and administrative roles at Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, New York.
Bryan-Brown was president of the Society of Critical Care Medicine in 1979, receiving its distinguished service award in 2004. He was a council member for the Pan-American Iberic Federation of Societies of Critical Care Medicine for 12 years.
He was founding editor of American Journal of Critical Care, serving in the role for more than 14 years, and also served as editor of the journal Heart and Lung. He was a prolific author and international lecturer with more than 200 publications and countless presentations and invited lectures.
Bryan-Brown was born in England and educated at Oxford University and Medical School, Oxford, England and the Royal College of Surgeons, before moving to the United States in the 1960s.
Marguerite Rodgers Kinney Award for a Distinguished Career
Established in 1997 and named for an AACN past president, the Marguerite Rodgers Kinney Award for a Distinguished Career recognizes extraordinary and distinguished professional contributions that further AACN's mission and vision of a healthcare system driven by the needs of patients and their families where acute and critical care nurses make their optimal contribution.
Linda Harrington, PhD, DNP, RN, NI-BC, UXC, FHIMSS, FAMIA
Harrington is considered one of the leading experts in informatics specializing in interactive design, with a subspecialty in artificial intelligence (AI). She maintains an active practice in AI and informatics (AI and I), while also contributing to policy and scientific advancements. She has spoken in Washington, D.C. before members of Congress and their staff on nurses' use of technology in healthcare.
Her current research focuses on designing health apps to help change health behaviors, and she is employing document analysis to examine the role technology design played in the RaDonda Vaught case.
In executive leadership roles, Harrington has overseen nursing informatics in large healthcare systems, serving as vice president for advancing nursing practice at Baylor Health Care System and vice president and chief nursing informatics officer at Catholic Health Initiatives, as well as numerous AI and I consulting positions. She taught informatics as a professor at Baylor College of Medicine and as a consulting associate at Duke University.
A prolific author, she has served as the Technology Today section editor for AACN Advanced Critical Care for over 10 years. Harrington is also co-chair of the current edition of the American Nurses Association's Nursing Informatics: Scope and Standards of Practice.
She served a three-year term on the AACN Board of Directors, followed by serving as chair-elect and then chair of the AACN Certification Corporation board. Harrington was named a fellow of the American Medical Informatics Association, where she also received an AMIA Leadership Award. She is also a fellow of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.
Circle of Excellence
Transformative leader. Compassionate advocate. Authentic leader. Expert clinician. Change agent. Role model. Mentor. Coach. Champion. Go-to frontline nurse.
The words used to describe the 15 exceptional nurses who will receive the AACN Circle of Excellence award this year demonstrate the high regard in which they're held by colleagues and their commitment to achieving excellent outcomes in the care of acutely and critically ill patients and their families.
Recipients of the 2025 AACN Circle of Excellence award (in alphabetical order):
- Diana Alexander, manager, surgical intensive care unit (ICU), ECMO, ICU float pool, Lakeland Regional Health, Florida
- Cyril Amoin, clinical nurse IV, Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center, Charlotte, North Carolina
- Natalie Calow, clinical nurse and forensic program coordinator, Indiana University Health, IU Health Methodist Hospital, Indianapolis
- Brian Cunningham, assistant unit director, intensive cardiac care, University of California at San Francisco
- Claire Dauis, clinical nurse 2, University of California Los Angeles UCLA Health, Santa Monica
- Lynne Flynn, clinical nurse educator/American Health Association program director, Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia
- Zorina Hernandez, nurse manager, Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, Colton, California
- Sheelu Joseph, director, critical care and central telemetry, Memorial Hermann, Cypress, Texas
- Mary Lawanson-Nichols, clinical nurse specialist, ICU and intermediate care unit, UCLA Health, Santa Monica
- Marissa Lozano, nurse manager, Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, Colton, California
- Jodi Mullen, senior quality improvement specialist, University of Florida UF Health Shands Hospital, Gainesville
- Barbara Paredes, clinical nurse level VI, Memorial Hermann Memorial City Hospital, Houston
- Jeffrey Schultz, senior APRN CVICU, HCA Florida North Florida Hospital, and flight nurse, UF Health ShandsCair Flight, Gainesville
- Stephen "Ryan" Valentine, director of medical-surgical ICU, Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
- JoAnn Wolfson, director of critical care and step-down units, CentraState Medical Center, Freehold, New Jersey
Circle of Excellence Chapter Award
AACN chapters that have made a difference in the healthcare profession and their communities are chosen each year to receive AACN Circle of Excellence awards.
Excellence in Chapter Collaboration
Sacramento Area Chapter
San Antonio Chapter
West Michigan Chapter
Excellence in Chapter Community Education & Public Service
AACN Chapter at UCLA
Denver Chapter
San Fernando Valley Chapter
Excellence in Chapter Educational Programming
Greater Phoenix Area Chapter
New York City Chapter
Sacramento Area Chapter
Excellence in Chapter Leadership Development
Broward County Chapter
Oklahoma City Area Chapter
West Houston Chapter
Excellence in Promoting the Value of Certification
Greater Miami Area Chapter
Greater Twin Cities Area Chapter
San Antonio Chapter
President's Award for Chapters
Houston Gulf Coast Chapter
Northwest Chicago Area Chapter
Palm Beach County Chapter
Sacramento Chapter