UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Sheldon D. Fields, associate dean for equity and inclusion and research professor at Penn State, was recently awarded the Lillian Sholtis Brunner Alumni Award for Innovation by the University of Pennsylvania at their Alumni Awards Ceremony on May 14.
The Lillian Sholtis Brunner Alumni Award for Innovation recognizes a Penn graduate for innovation in interprofessional, collaborative practice impacting the nursing profession and/or the health care delivery system.
"I am honored to be recognized with this award for my many years of collective innovative work in the many areas across my 30-year career in nursing. I want to thank the UPENN School of Nursing Alumni committee and my sponsors for the consideration of my work,” said Fields. “Lastly, I would like to dedicate this award to those men and people of color like me in nursing who for far too long have not been recognized and celebrated for their contributions to the nursing profession. As we continue to not only innovate the profession but push to make it live up to its responsibility to care for all in our society with the human dignity and compassion ensconced in our code of ethics.”
Fields received his doctorate in nursing science from the University of Pennsylvania, his bachelor’s degree in nursing and master’s degree in family nursing from Binghamton University, and his post-doctoral studies at the University of California San Francisco.
As well, Fields is an advanced AIDS certified registered nurse and a board-certified family nurse practitioner. He is the first male registered nurse selected for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellowship program, a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, Association of Nurse Practitioners, and the National Academies of Practice, a lifetime member of the National Black Nurses Association, Inc. (NBNA), and he currently serves as the organization’s first vice president. He also chairs the NBNA Health Policy, Research, and Scholarship/Awards committees.
Each year, the University of Pennsylvania Alumni Board Awards Committee recognizes outstanding alumni who demonstrate their varied contributions to the nursing profession and the health care of citizens of our nation and around the world. Learn more here.