Alabama Practitioner of the Year- Salisia Valentine

She has dedicated her professional career to working as a nurse practitioner and serving as an advocate for the advancement of nurse practitioners in Alabama.  Currently, she serves as Vice President of Provider Relations/Interim Medical Director for American Family Care clinic. As Vice President of Provider Relations, she oversees 140 nurse practitioners and physician assistants coordinating with internal departments to ensure smooth clinical operations and provider staffing. She is a strong advocate for legislative actions to advance the role of nurse practitioners and has educated her administration on the benefits of achieving full practice authority. In addition, she has become an active member of NPAA speaking before the Alabama Legislative House Health Committee sharing the challenges of rural counties with limited access to health care. 

Rising star Award- Brenda Mayfield

In her early career, she served her community as a firefighter/paramedic. She later obtained a MSN with a psychiatric nurse specialty at the University of Alabama. Upon graduation, she obtained additional residency training via the UABSON/Birmingham VA Nursing Academy Partnership for Graduate Education with a focus on Veteran centered mental healthcare. In December of 2022, she completed her doctorate supporting the well-being of rural nursing workforce via quality improvement project in Bibb County. She continues to work on behalf of Veterans with special focus on mental health conditions and is their “Rising Star.”

Preceptor of the Year- Danica Taylor

Dr. Danica Taylor received her Master’s in Nursing in 2002 from the University of Alabama in Birmingham. In 2009, she received her doctorate from the University of South Alabama. Her career started as a neonatal registered nurse in 1999 and since then she has advanced her education to practice as a pediatric nurse practitioner, and to teach as an associate degree nursing faculty and visiting professor. She has been committed to the role of mentoring and precepting students. 

NP Student Leadership Award- Carrie Simmons

Her career started as a Registered Nurse in a variety of settings which included critical care, med-surg, surgical observation, psych and long term care. Her clinical rotations were in interventional radiology, infectious disease and a hospitalist rotation. In 2022, she received a Master of Science in Nursing and became an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner. At the University of Huntsville Alabama, she received the Sigma Theta Tau International honors and was a recipient of the NANPA Scholarship in 2022. During her masters training as a nurse practitioner, she received superior grades in academic performance, and class participation.  She excels in leadership

Outstanding Faculty Award- Lisa Pair

Since 2019, Dr. Pair has been a faculty member at the University of Alabama School of Nursing Birmingham, Alabama committed to mentoring and teaching others. She has had 20 years of practice as a Women’s Health nurse practitioner and has been the Specialty Track Coordinator for Women’s Health nurse practitioners at UAB.  In 2022, she received the UAB School of Nursing Graduate Clinical Faculty of the month award. In addition, she created and launched a Uro-gynecology workshop for providers. Currently, she is serving a second term as Vice President for Policy for NPAA. During the Legislative session, you will see Dr. Pair walking the halls in Montgomery connecting with legislators advocating for improving healthcare in Alabama. 

The Power of One Awards- Peggy Benson

The Alabama Board of Nursing (ABN) Executive Officer, Peggy Sellers Benson (MSN,RN,MSHA,NE-BC), brings 45 years  of experience in nursing and healthcare leadership to her role with ABN. She is a board-certified nurse executive who has worked in various executive roles in nursing and human resources. Peggy’s previous roles include Chief Nursing Officer (CNO), System Director of Critical Care and Medical Surgical Nursing over a five-hospital system, Director of Nursing for Specialty Services, and Assistant Administrator of Human Resources. She has played a tremendous role in advocating for excellence in nursing practice throughout the state of Alabama.