Pure Excellence: Gina Browne receives national nursing award
CFHI president Maureen O’ Neil (right) presents Dr. Gina Browne with the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement (CFHI) Excellence Through Evidence Award at the annual CEO Forum in Montreal, Quebec.
McMaster Nursing professor Dr. Gina Browne has received the 2013 Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement (CFHI) Excellence Through Evidence award.
The award recognizes a healthcare leader who has implemented evidence-based innovations in both care and service delivery. Browne was presented with the honour last week at the CFHI CEO Forum in Montreal.
“Gina’s distinguished career as an educator, scholar and mentor has boldly challenged conventional approaches to care by promoting evidence to drive innovation and quality in health service delivery,” says CFHI president Maureen O’Neil.
Browne has spent her career at McMaster conducting research in chronic illness and service utilization; developing researchers and research participants; and linking and coordinating clinical and research initiatives.
“This is an unexpected and wonderful affirmation of my work with my team and collaborating service providers, and I receive this recognition on behalf of all of them,” says Browne, who is also director of McMaster’s Health and Social Service Utilization Research Unit.
“I’m especially delighted to be able to apply the award’s honorarium to the implementation phase of my current project involving children and youth who learn in different ways compared to mainstream youth. This is the first step in a mental health promotion strategy and not a treatment approach. It uses a variety of arts studios – music, dance, computer, literary and visual arts, and others – to help youth find their passion and the spark that ignites their enthusiasm for learning, self-esteem and life skills.”
Browne joined the School of Nursing in 1971, and has maintained clinical practice as a family therapist in primary care since 1978.
“We are extremely proud of Gina and her dedication to improving the health and social outcomes of the most vulnerable people in our communities,” says Catherine Tompkins, associate dean and director of the nursing school. “This award is due to her remarkable ability to bring community groups, and partner health and social service agencies together to collaborate successfully on innovative approaches to providing proactive integrated care. Her work has had a deep impact at the local, provincial and national level.”
