2019 NAO Award Winners

The UW Nurses Alumni Organization (NAO) salutes alumni each year who have made significant contributions to the nursing profession. The most recent winners—Nancy Kaufman ’71, who received the Distinguished Achievement Award, and Jessica Kendall ‘14, who received the Outstanding Badger Nursing Award—both give their time and talent to the School and are members of NAO and the Badger Nurse Network.

Unleashing the Force of Transitional and Home Care

Dwayne Dobschuetz, APRN, Geriatric Nurse Practitioner at Northwestern Medicine and University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Nursing alumnus, started checking in on older patients, as he rode his bicycle home from work. The experience inspired him to go back to school at age 65 to become an advanced practice nurse, and led to his current home care role.

Catalyst for Change

“I’ve been called a catalyst before and I believe that I am one. Challenge the status quo in constructive ways so you can achieve results in the system,” says Rachel Azanleko-Akouete, a recent graduate of the master’s in public health program at UW–Madison and BSN alumna. “We really need to inspire that next generation of researchers and public health nurses.”

Family, Faith, Fellowship, and Fitness

For Uchenna Jones ’02, ’09, it’s all about family. As a labor and delivery nurse at St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison, she helps start new families. And as the organizer of both the Madison Gospel 5K and the W1N Crew walking group and the co-founder of the Sole Sistas Run Madtown running group, she helps keep those families healthy.

UW Alumna Sadat Abiri’s Global Fight Against Mental Health Stigma

Sadat Abiri ’99, MSN ’10, MPH ’12 is a psychiatric/mental health nurse practitioner and a mental health advocate, particularly for immigrants and the homeless. Abiri is bringing leaders and psychiatrists from Africa to Madison to continue their conversation about dispelling mental health myths and stigma as well as to increase access to mental health care.