A number of local nurses received Visionary Leader Awards when the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark celebrated the 20th anniversary of the UMDNJ-School of Nursing at an awards dinner Dec. 10 at the Mayfair Farms in West Orange, N.J.

Visionary Leadership Awards for regional/state nursing were given to Bayada Home Health Care’s founder and president Mark Baiada and its director, Ann Claffey Baiada, RN, CRRN; Susan Bakewell-Sachs, RN, PhD, PNP-BC, interim provost, The College of New Jersey in Ewing Township, and program director, New Jersey Nursing Initiative-Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, N.J.; Robyn Begley, RN, DNP, NEA-BC, vice president of nursing and CNO, AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City, N.J.; Linda A. Carrick, RN, PhD, senior vice president, clinical operations, and CNO, Kennedy Health System; and George J. Hebert, RN, MA, executive director, New Jersey Board of Nursing.

"We were gratified by the presence of such distinguished individuals at our school’s 20th anniversary celebration," Susan Salmond, RN, EdD, FAAN, dean and professor at UMDNJ School of Nursing, said in a news release. "Each honoree exemplifies the highest ideals of leadership and service to others, ideals that form the core of our school’s mission and the heart of the profession of nursing."