Two Clinical Center U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) nurses recently received high honors from the USPHS Nurse Professional Advisory Committee.
LT Neil Barranta, the Clinical Center Nursing Department's Clinical Manager of 3 SWS-Intensive Care Unit, was given The 2018 Nurse Responder of the Year Award. The award was given to him for his leadership contributions during the unprecedented back to back deployment in Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and for his outstanding commitment in supporting the mission of the NIH in emergency preparedness and management of future Ebola treatment. In addition, he also co-authored articles that were published in Commissioned Officers Association Frontline magazine and Junior Officer Chronicle magazine regarding the recent disaster response from Hurricane Harvey, Irma and Maria.
CDR Leslie Wehrlen, a Senior Nurse Consultant with the Clinical Center's Nursing Department, earned the RADM O. Marie Henry Publication Award for Clinical Nursing Practice as first author of the publication Systematic collection of patient reported outcome research data: A checklist for clinical research professionals, which was published in Contemporary Clinical Trials. The award recognizes publications that describe trends in clinical nursing practice and clinical nursing research.
In 2016, both Wehrlen and Barranta were also recipients of USPHS Nurse Professional Advisory Committee Minnegerode Awards for Nursing Excellence.
The U.S. Public Health Service Nurse Professional Advisory Committee awards recognize contributions by Commissioned Corps, Civil Service and Tribal Direct hire nurses of outstanding and sustained nature, which have greatly impacted the mission of the USPHS. The awards were presented at the USPHS Scientific and Training Symposium in June 2018.