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Raise the Line Faculty Awards

Elsevier is excited to launch the 2026 Raise the Line Faculty Awards! These awards recognize the inspirational educators who are responsible for training the next generation of healthcare professionals and are constantly helping to “Raise the Line” by increasing the capacity of healthcare systems worldwide. 

Please visit the page at the link to learn more and nominate a faculty or healthcare professional today! 

osmosis logo with raise the line logo

Thank you to everyone who nominated and congratulations to all our 2026 winners!

Find the full list

Congratulations to the 2022 Winners!

MD/DO

Grand Prize Winner: Kishore Gopal Banerjee – Manipal University College of Malaysia

Category Winners: Hilal Arnouk - Midwestern University | Mostafa Belghasem - Kaiser Permanente Bernard J Tyson School of Medicine | Imanni Sheppard - Carle Illinois College of Medicine |  Danielle Cohen - Leiden University Medical Center

RN/NP

Grand Prize Winner: Elizabeth Hendricks – New Mexico State University

Category Winners: Angel Butron - DePaul University | Janice Umezulike-Johnson - Lee college |  Anthony Filippelli - Rutgers School of Nursing |  Philip J Nelan - Queensborogh Community College

PA

Grand Prize Winner: Michael Moore – University of Michigan – Flint 

Category Winners: Andrew Nevins - Stanford University | Amanda Ingalls - University Southern California | Michelle Dibaise - AT Still PA | Dayna Jaynstein - Red Rocks Community College

Other Healthcare Professionals

Grand Prize Winner: Athanasios Hassoulas – Cardiff University

Category Winners: Sinky Zheng - University of the Pacific, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry | Nicole Piemonte - Creighton University School of Medicine-Phoenix |  Mariusz Panczyk - Warsaw Medical University |  Kenric Ware - South University

Student Advisor 

Grand Prize Winner: Susan Spielberg – Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine

Category Winners: Heather Boger - Medical University of South Carolina | Monika Wróbel - Vincent Pol University | Marcie Stansberry - AT Still Learning Advisors |  Diana Speelman - Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

Grand Prize Winner: Joanne Baxter – University of Otago

Category Winners: Toni Ganzel - University of Louisville School of Medicine | Diana Eccles - University of Southampton School of Medicine | Jane Valentine - King's College London GKT School of Medical Education | Michael Toze - Lincoln Medical School - Universities of Nottingham and Lincoln

Anatomy & Physiology

Grand Prize Winner: Nicolene Lottering – Bond University

Category Winners: Christian Moro - Bond University | Doris George Yohannan - Government Medical College Thiruvananthapuram | Jan Spodnik - Medical University of Gdańsk | Danya Stone - Brighton and Sussex Medical School

Librarian

Grand Prize Winner: Theodosia Adanu – University of Ghana Medical School

Category Winners: Witold Kozakiewicz - Medical University of Lodz | Karina Kletscher - Creighton University School of Medicine-Phoenix | Rhonda Altonen - Touro Osteopathic College of Medicine |  Jennifer Santos - Touro Osteopathic College of Medicine

2022 Osmosis Raise the Line Faculty Awards Categories

Faculty members were nominated in one of these categories

  • MD/ DO

  • RN/NP

  • PA

  • Other Health Care professional

  • Student Advisor

  • Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) 

  • Anatomy

  • Librarian

Congratulations to the 2020 award-winning faculty

Medical Professionals

Category Winners: Ritcha Saxena, MBBS, MD - Medical University of the Americas | Lina Shehadeh, PhD - University of Miami Miller School of Medicine | Jayendra Bajracharya - Nepal Army Institute Of Health Science | Cheryl Vanier, PhD - Touro University Nevada

Registered Nurses

Category Winners: Annmarie Lyles, PhD, RN - Herzing University-Madison | Laurie Badzek, LLM, JD, MS, RN, FNAP, FAAN - Penn State | Lisa Nikel, DNP, ARNP-C - Rasmussen College | Yvonne Commodore-Mensah, PhD, MHS, RN, FAHA, FPCNA, FAAN - Johns Hopkins School of Nursing

Nurse Practitioners

Category Winners: Melissa Penkalski, DNP, APRN, CPNP-PC, AE-C - Missouri State University | Teresa Gwin, EdD, RN, GNP - Samuel Merritt University | Ruth Kleinpell, PhD, RN, FAAN, FAANP, FCCM - Vanderbilt University School of Nursing | Xiao Hu, PhD - Duke University

Physician Assistants

Category Winners: Amber Teigen, MMSc, PA-C - University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences | Enrique Fernandez, MD, MSEd, FAAFP - Florida International University | Brianna Cardenas, PA-C, ATC - University of LaVerne | Shaun Curran, MPAS, PA-C - University of Utah

Healthcare Professionals 

Category Winners: Andreas Herrler, PhD - Maastricht University, Veterinarian Medicine | Eric Wellman, MS, NRP, CCEMTP - Southern Maine Community College, Paramedicine/EMT | Erin Bons, Loyalist College, Paramedicine | Krishana Sireesha Sundaragiri, MDS - Rajasthan University of Health Sciences, Department of Dentistry

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