NIGH's Rushton Awarded

Faculty member of the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing in the USA, Cynda Hylton Rushton, PhD, RN, FAAN, is among the 2008 Marylands Top 100 Women recently recognized by The Daily Record. Dr Rushton is an International Co-Director of the Nightingale Initiative for Global Health.

Cynda Rushton, PhD, RN, FAAN

Dr Rushton, an internationally known expert in bioethics and palliative care, shares her knowledge through teaching, clinical practice, research, consultation, and scholarship.

Her interests focus on end-of-life decision-making across the lifespan, moral distress and caregiver suffering, spirituality, and ethics consultation and education.

She is a tireless advocate for improving palliative and end of life care through holistic care delivery models, systems change, policy reform, and raising personal and public awareness.

Commenting on the award, Dr. Rushton said: "It is truly an honor to represent my colleagues, the nursing profession, and the children and families who need palliative care.

"The recognition this award brings to the entire field of palliative care, particularly among pediatric patients, is invaluable. Children aren't supposed to die, but they do. Helping patients, families, and the health care team find support and meaning in this reality is my calling."

In addition to her faculty position at the School of Nursing, Dr Rushton is the Program Director of Harriet Lane Compassionate Care, the first tertiary pediatric palliative care program in Maryland. She also holds a joint appointment in Pediatrics and the Berman Institute of Bioethics, co-chairs the Johns Hopkins Hospital Ethics Service, and serves as Chair of Maryland's State Council on Quality Care at the End-of-Life. In addition,

She has held leadership roles with the Association for the Care of Childrens Health (President); the American Society of Law, Medicine, and Ethics (Board of Directors); and the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (co-chair, Ethics Work Group). Other awards include the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses Pioneering Spirit Award (2001) and a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Fellowship (2006).

Dr Rushton and other 2008 winners will be honoured at an awards ceremony on May 12, 2008 at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore, MD.