2025 Nurses of Influence Awardees
Honoring exceptional nurses and nurse leaders
Celebrating nurses and nurse leaders who have been nominated for their outstanding contributions and excellence in the field
We’re honored to celebrate this year’s Nurses of Influence Award nominees — exceptional nurses and nurse leaders who have been recognized for their excellence and unwavering commitment to the profession. Through their innovative practice, compassionate care, and inspiring leadership, these individuals are shaping the future of nursing and improving lives in our communities. Join us in honoring their remarkable achievements.
November 6, 2025, 5:30 p.m.–7:30 p.m.
Oak Hall, Denny Room
4295 Little Canoe Channel NE, Seattle, WA 98195
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Distinguished Alumni AwardeeDistinguished Alumni Awardee
Eliza Brink
Distinguished Alumni Awardee
Eliza Brink (DNP, PMHNP-BC), Owner & Associate Teaching Professor, Spruce Psychiatric Associates & UW School of Nursing (Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Informatics)
Dr. Eliza Brink was a Doctor of Nursing Practice student in the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) track in 2011 and now serves as an Associate Teaching Professor at the University of Washington School of Nursing, where she teaches psychopharmacology, advanced clinical seminars, and guest lectures for both graduate and undergraduate students. Over the past decade, she has grown into a leader in the mental health field. In response to a lack of mentorship and support for PMHNPs after graduation, she created Spruce Psychiatric Associates, now one of the largest nurse practitioner-led psychiatric practices in the country. Under her leadership, the practice emphasizes education, evidence-based care, and mentorship. She also co-founded Clear Path Psychiatry, an interventional psychiatry clinic offering advanced treatments such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and intranasal esketamine for treatment-resistant depression. Through these practices, Dr. Brink has expanded access to high-quality psychiatric care while building a strong professional community that supports the growth and resilience of psychiatric nurse practitioners. Dr. Brink is also recognized as a leader in neuromodulation and interventional psychiatry. She is the first nurse practitioner to serve on the Board of Directors of the Clinical TMS Society and has contributed to ongoing clinical trials exploring novel treatments for depression.
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Distinguished Advocate, Administrator, Leader AwardeeDistinguished Advocate, Administrator, Leader Awardee
Heather Martin
Distinguished Advocate, Administrator, Leader Awardee
Heather Martin (Ed.D., MSN, RN, CNE-CL, SCRN, CNRN), Executive Director of Quality, Swedish Providence (Quality)
Dr. Heather Martin goes above and beyond for nurses and patients. She has been the Director of Quality since 2022, ensuring patient quality outcomes across five hospitals. She has taught at Seattle University since 2017 and serves on the board of directors for the Northwest Organization of Nursing Leaders (NWONL). Heather is a quintessential team player, advocate for nursing, and innovator. Under her direction, Swedish has achieved 5-star ratings, Leapfrog rating improvements in 2024 (Edmonds C to B, Ballard B to A, and Issaquah C to A), and US News rankings (#4). Heather’s impact and presence are evident in her detailed approach and local work to demonstrate change, as well as in her broad quality improvement strategies. In addition to her daily work in the health system, Heather also developed an app as part of her doctoral research to measure and enhance nurse mental health, demonstrating successful outcomes in her pilot group. She also mentors students in her official faculty capacity and informally, supporting nurses’ mental health and well-being. She sews in her free time, often sharing nursing accessories with staff to maintain morale and illustrate the teamwork across units. While Heather is innovative, proactive, and clearly focused on bettering nursing care and health systems, she also maintains a desire to provide care to our most vulnerable patients. Being immersed in the pandemic, Heather developed backpacks to support emergency responses with COVID-19 PPE, provided weekly mobile vaccinations to underserved communities, and at scale via Lumen Field. She continues to perform community outreach via health fairs and volunteers her time to best meet community needs. Heather also played a part in Swedish and Seattle University designing an innovative pilot to pay students for their clinical hours while better combining resources across academia and healthcare facilities. Heather contributed to the vision and feasibility for this work, personally implementing the modified approach with her students. She subsequently developed a playbook for future partnerships, and the team presented this work at the AACN conference. In short, today’s healthcare challenges are no match for Dr. Martin. She easily spans the realms of academia and practice, leaving patients, staff, and systems better than she found them. She is a champion for nursing, inspiring new nurses and seasoned leaders alike, and personally exemplifies what a nursing leader should be: humble, brilliant, and striving for excellence in healthcare.
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Distinguished Practitioner AwardeeDistinguished Practitioner Awardee
Zion Shekinah
Distinguished Practitioner Awardee
Zion Shekinah (DNP, PMHNP-BC), Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, Compass Housing Alliance/UW School of Nursing
A 2020 graduate of the DNP program, Dr. Zion Shekinah exemplifies the values of equity, service, and clinical excellence through her work as a psychiatric nurse practitioner at Compass Housing Alliance. Her commitment has transformed how mental health care is accessed and experienced by some of our region’s most vulnerable residents. Dr. Shekinah joined Compass in 2022, when the Wellpoint Foundation funded a new position to embed psychiatric services within permanent supportive housing in collaboration with the School of Nursing. This role demanded not only clinical expertise in diagnosis and prescribing but also profound humility, emotional intelligence, and the ability to build trust with individuals who have experienced deep trauma and long-term housing instability. Her ability to hold space for others while offering trauma-informed, culturally responsive care has fostered a clinical environment grounded in dignity and healing. She has helped individuals stabilize their mental health, preventing costly and harmful returns to incarceration. Her care has reconnected residents with family members they hadn’t seen in decades, restoring broken bonds and hope. She has also guided patients through coming to terms with addiction and navigating end-of-life decisions with dignity and support. Dr. Shekinah not only provides care—she fiercely advocates for her patients within systems that too often judge or dismiss them. These stories reflect not only her clinical skill, but her deep commitment to holistic healing, equity, and human connection. One of Dr. Shekinah’s most lasting contributions is her impact on students who train alongside her. She is a gifted educator and mentor, modeling best practices in psychiatric care and demonstrating how to lead with presence, humility, and social justice. Students carry her influence into their own nursing practice, inspired by the way she bridges clinical excellence with authentic human connection. Dr. Shekinah’s path to this role is equally distinguished. From early work in Uganda as a hospital administrator coordinating public health initiatives to her experience at the Downtown Emergency Services Center’s Inpatient Crisis Solutions Center in Seattle, her career reflects an unwavering commitment to those most often left behind by systems of care. She has served as a voice for the voiceless—locally and globally—through leadership, service, and advocacy, including speaking at the United Nations on human trafficking and human rights. In every setting, Dr. Shekinah exemplifies what it means to be a nurse leader: clinically skilled, community-rooted, and uncompromising in her pursuit of equity.
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Distinguished Researcher AwardeeDistinguished Researcher Awardee
Oleg Zaslavsky
Distinguished Researcher Awardee
Oleg Zaslavsky (PhD, MHA, RN, FAAN), Associate Professor & Director of the Digital Health Innovation Hub, University of Washington, School of Nursing (Biobehavioral Nursing & Health Informatics)
Dr. Oleg Zaslavsky is a distinguished scholar whose work exemplifies how rigorous research and professional leadership can improve the welfare of the general public, bring prestige to the profession, and inspire the next generation of researchers. Dr. Zaslavsky’s research program centers on the development of innovative, technology-driven solutions to improve the health and well-being of older adults, particularly those living with mild cognitive impairment/dementia in community and long-term care settings. His recent work on digital health tools—including advanced models for detecting respiratory decline using cough and breathing sounds—has positioned him at the forefront of interdisciplinary science. By integrating clinical expertise with data science, Dr. Zaslavsky’s research not only addresses pressing healthcare challenges but also opens new pathways for scalable, equitable, and cost-effective interventions that have the potential to transform geriatric care. Dr. Zaslavsky’s contributions extend far beyond academia. His work has direct implications for improving the welfare of the general public, particularly vulnerable populations who often face barriers to accessing timely and high-quality care. By developing accessible digital interventions and emphasizing person-centered approaches, he has championed research that addresses real-world needs. His commitment to bridging science and practice ensures that his work has meaningful impact not only in scholarly circles but also in the daily lives of patients, families, and communities. His research advances have brought personal distinction, his professional achievements have elevated the field, and his commitment to improving public welfare has created lasting social impact. Through his scholarship, mentorship, and leadership, he continues to bring honor and prestige to nursing science and gerontology.
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Dr. C. June Strickland Distinguished Diversity & Transcultural Nursing Advocate AwardeeDr. C. June Strickland Distinguished Diversity & Transcultural Nursing Advocate Awardee
Chris Ijiomah
Dr. C. June Strickland Distinguished Diversity & Transcultural Nursing Advocate Awardee
Chris Ijiomah (BSN, RN), Assistant Nurse Manager of Operations, Harborview Medical Center (8EH Burn/Plastic/Pediatric Trauma)
Chris Ijiomah is the true embodiment of advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion within the inpatient setting and across UW Medicine. Her vision, courage, and advocacy have directly transformed care practices and inspired meaningful institutional change. Chris founded Equity in the Moment (EIM) on our unit after witnessing multiple microaggressions and implicit bias in the care of a Black teen. Rather than accepting these experiences as isolated incidents, she asked, “What can we do differently?” This question became the catalyst for an initiative that now spans the entire UW Medicine system. Partnering with EDI leadership, Chris developed EIM as a safe, structured space for dialogue, reflection, and learning. EIM meetings, held monthly and open to all staff, have become a cornerstone for addressing health equity and transcultural care challenges in real time. Through these conversations, staff have implemented tangible changes—introducing BIPOC hair care products, expanding language access through interpreter tablets and multilingual menus, and sourcing bandages that match a variety of skin tones. These changes, while seemingly small, reflect a broader cultural shift toward truly inclusive care. Under Chris’s leadership, our unit also became the first inpatient area to implement HEALS—a framework for addressing microaggressions in the moment. Traditionally used only in classroom settings, HEALS has now been adapted for real-world clinical environments because of her innovation and courage to bring difficult conversations to the bedside. Chris’s work has gained recognition across UW Medicine and beyond. EIM was presented at both the 2024 Magnet Conference and the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN) Conference, serving as a model for how grassroots nursing initiatives can drive institutional change. Beyond her unit-based efforts, Chris continues to lead and educate at the organizational level. She serves as an educator and facilitator for the White Antiracist Group (WAG), collaborates on the creation of the new CARE Project, and is an active member of both the Harborview EDI Council and the Worker-Led EDI Council. Through these roles, she continues to challenge power imbalances, amplify underrepresented voices, and equip nurses with the tools to advocate for equity in practice. Chris’s leadership is transformative. She not only envisions a more just healthcare system—she actively builds it.