Seven inspiring individuals and a foundation were honored May 9 at the second annual "Nurse 21 Awards" gala presented by the UCLA School of Nursing at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.

"We are honored to recognize these champions who have been working to redefine and expand the role of nursing," Courtney H. Lyder, RN, ND, ScD(Hon), FAAN, dean and professor of the UCLA School of Nursing, said in a news release. "Their impact has been enormous and will continue to be so."

The keynote address was delivered by Heidi Crooks, RN, MA, who received this year’s Nurse 21 Visionary Leadership Award. As senior associate director of operations and patient care services and CNO at UCLA Health System, Crooks also is a past recipient of the Most Innovative Patient-Focused Care Award from the Hospital Council of Southern California as well as the 2001 Caregiver of the Year Award.

For a tribute video for Crooks, visit www.YouTu.be/9rlo0kqQPFo.

Other 2012 award recipients include:

• Corporation/Foundation: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Human Capital Campaign: The Future of Nursing Campaign for Action. This initiative identifies, generates, synthesizes and disseminates evidence essential to implementing the recommendations outlined in the Institute of Medicine’s report, "The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health."

• Emerging Leader Award: Jonathan Lee, BS, graduated in May from the UCLA School of Nursing. In his second year he co-founded Men in Nursing at UCLA, one of the largest and most active chapters of the American Assembly for Men in Nursing. Lee continues to challenge nursing stereotypes and inequalities.

• International: Judith A. Oulton, RN, MEd, DSc (hon), former CEO of the International Council of Nurses and current member of the board of trustees of the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention. An internationally renowned expert on healthcare and the worldwide nursing shortage, Oulton’s efforts to advance the field of nursing have spanned her career. Oulton is retired from the ICN.

• Community Award: Kristine Gebbie, RN, DrPH, FAAN, former head of public health for the state of Oregon, Washington state secretary of health and member of the White House team that established the AIDS Policy Office for President Clinton. Gebbie also served as a senior policy adviser to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion on subjects of public health infrastructure and the public health workforce. Now Gebbie works as an adjunct professor, faculty of health sciences at Flinders University School of Nursing & Midwifery in South Australia where she researches competency-based education and emergency preparedness

• Media Advocacy: Diana Mason, RN, PhD, FAAN, former editor of the American Journal of Nursing. Mason is the Rudin professor of nursing and co-director of the Center for Health, Media and Policy at Hunter College, The City University of New York. She also serves as strategic adviser for the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action that is coordinating implementation of the recommendations in the Institute of Medicine’s report on the future of nursing.

• Distinguished Alumni: Sandra Rome, RN, MN, AOCN, a clinical nurse specialist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Rome received BSN and MN degrees from the UCLA School of Nursing. As an assistant clinical professor at the school, Rome has impacted nursing nationally through speaking and publishing articles and book chapters.

• Distinguished Alumni: Vivien Dee, RN, DNSc, NEA-BC, FAAN, is professor and director of the PhD nursing program at Azusa (Calif.) Pacific University. After graduating from UCLA, she served as a nurse consultant at Western Regional Center for Developmental Disabilities in Santa Monica and then as assistant director for child services at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Hospital from 1977-1987. In February 2011, she was the keynote speaker at the International Nursing Conference in Riyadh, sponsored by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health.

For information on Nurse 21, visit www.Nursing.UCLA.edu/Nurse21.