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Vernice Ferguson, RN, MA, FAAN, FRCN, of Washington, D.C., has achieved a first for the nursing profession.

On Nov. 14, Ferguson was awarded the prestigious FREDDIE Lifetime Achievement Award at a black-tie gala in Philadelphia, the first time in the award's 34-year history that it has been given to a nurse.

"I felt honored and quite humbled to have had a very long, good career, and to have it capped off with the lifetime achievement award for 2008 is a thrill," says Ferguson. "It's been a great ride."

Ferguson has left her mark on the nursing profession, including leading the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International, as president from 1985 to 1987.

"Vernice Ferguson is the consummate nursing leader," says Carol J. Huston, RN, MSN, DPA, FAAN, the 2007-2009 president of Sigma Theta Tau. "I am proud to follow in the footsteps of Honor Society nursing leaders, such as Vernice Ferguson, who were visionary in creating a global community of nurses who lead in using knowledge, scholarship, service, and learning to improve the health of the world's people. To make such a difference in the lives of so many is truly remarkable."

Ferguson is in elite company among the lifetime achievement award winners. Previous honorees include Jonas Salk, Bill and Melinda Gates, Christopher Reeve, and Jerry Lewis.

As assistant chief medical director for nursing programs at the Washington, D.C.-based Department of Veterans Affairs from 1980 to 1992, Ferguson led one of the largest organized nursing services in the world. She encouraged individual facilities to hire clinical nurse researchers and organized a network of VA nurse researchers, facilitated their development, and showcased their accomplishments.

"Ms. Ferguson is a transformational leader whose distinguished career has inspired a generation of professionals to pursue academic success," says Cathy Rick, RN, CNAA, FACHE, chief nursing officer, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. "She shaped nursing practice in the largest healthcare delivery system in the world."

Ferguson also served as chief nurse at the Clinical Center at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., for seven years and has taught public school science, provided patient care in academic hospitals, and promoted cultural diversity as a senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in Philadelphia.

Ferguson stays active by serving on nursing and patient-care boards and mentoring younger nurses. She encourages nurses to embrace their career choice with passion, calling that key to professional success and happiness.

"My most important achievement is to honor students and young nurses and to help them realize their dream and to set a climate in which they can be very successful," Ferguson says. "I consider that the overriding purpose of my life and my greatest pleasure."

As an advisory committee member of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Fellows Program, which prepares nurses to lead and shape the health system, Ferguson brings wisdom, warmth and knowledge. "Vernice Ferguson is an amazing woman and gives of herself incredibly to the nurses in this program," says Mary Dickow, MPA, deputy director of the program. "Vernice shares from a very real place, which makes her advice to fellows even more appreciated."

Ferguson expects nurses will guide efforts to transform America's healthcare system and make it more inclusive.

"Nurses will lead that charge," says Ferguson. "We are a versatile profession. We get things done, and we put ourselves last while we look out for other people."

Debra Anscombe Wood, RN, is a freelance writer.

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