Katie Borchers, BS '03, president and founder of Beyond Green Solutions, a nurse-owned collection agency with a patient-centered mission, led the acquisition of Richland Bureau of Credits, Inc. 

Kimberley Ennis MS '07, BS '05, was named Vice President of Nursing and Patient Care Services at NYU Langone Orthopedic Hospital (LOH) and associated ambulatory care sites. Ennis will lead nursing practice and delivery of patient care, as well as lead and coordinate daily operations.

Ennis also launched the Kimberley Ennis Foundation, which aims to grow and diversify the nursing workforce through targeted scholarships, career development opportunities, and comprehensive mentorship. 

Marilyn Dollinger, DNS '07, is the Lifetime Achievement Award winner for the Rochester Business Journal's 2025 Health Care Heroes. Dollinger is being recognized for her outstanding career as a nurse educator, practitioner and health care policy advocate. 

Lisa Greisler, BS '79, president of the Visiting Nurses Association of Western New York, Inc., ranked No. 35 on Buffalo Business First's 2025 Power 200 Women. 

Petrina Harrison, DNP '25, was a featured speaker at a Veterans Day webinar hosted by the American Nurses Credentialing Center and the American Nurses Association. Harrison presented her research on ovarian cancer detection among veteran patient populations.

The American Nurses Credentialing Center also spotlighted Harrison as part of their "Stories of Inspiration" newsletter in September 2025 for her outstanding contributions to ovarian cancer detection and treatment as a clinician, researcher and advocate. 

Takesha Leonard, CAS '22, BS '01, was promoted to Chief of Clinical Operations at Jericho Road Community Health Center.

Caitlin Nye, PhD '25,  was awarded an inaugural TrueMerit/National League for Nursing Distinguished Emerging Scholar Award. The award recognizes her original and ongoing scholarship, dedicated to advancing teaching and learning in nursing education.

Jennifer Pichoske, MS '99, is now CEO of Hematology-Oncology Associates (HOA) of Central New York. HOA is a private community cancer center established in 1982 with a mission to provide the highest level of quality care in a healing environment for the mind, body and spirit of patients dealing with cancer and blood disorders.

Jessica Varghese, PhD '17  was selected as one of the 2025 Fellows of the Academy of Diversity Leaders in Nursing (ADLN). The ADLN Fellows are distinguished nurse leaders who have demonstrated excellence in advancing justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) through their contributions in education, research, practice, policy, and administration.

Issoumaila Zou, BS '24, was recognized with a Leading with CARE award from Kaleida Health for his exceptional patient care at Buffalo General Medical Center. 

Karen Blount, MS '93, has been named vice president of surgical operations for Kaleida Health. Blount will lead strategic initiatives to support growth and improvement of hospital-based inpatient, outpatient surgical and endoscopy functions, as well as collaborate with acute care and ambulatory surgery leadership to strengthen operations of surgical arenas.

LuAnne Brown, MS '88, has been honored by Buffalo Business First with a 2024 Women of Influence Award in the nonprofit leadership category. Brown is being recognized for her exceptional leadership as CEO of the Buffalo Prenatal-Perinatal Network. 

Emily Jerge, BS '06, started a new position as Corporate Nurse Educator at Catholic Health. She is the Lead Educator at Kenmore Mercy Hospital and contributes to simulations for the system.

Janice Jones, MS '82, BS '73, earned third place for the 2024 American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award in Critical Care—Emergency Nursing for her co-authored book, Critical Care Notes: Clinical Pocket Guide.

Takesha Leonard, CAS '22, BS '01, has launched a private psychiatry/mental health practice on Buffalo's East Side. Dr. Takesha Leonard, Nurse Practitioner in Psychiatry, PLLC, offers affordable and accessible mental health services.

Diane Thompkins, BS '76, has been recognized by the American Board of Nursing Specialties with the renaming of the organization's lifetime achievement award in her honor. The Diane Thompkins Lifetime Achievement Award is the most prestigious award given to a significant leader in the field of nursing specialty certification. The award was named after Thompkins because of her significant and lasting impact on the nursing industry.

Salah Al-Zaiti, PhD ’13, MS ’10, has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to conduct research abroad in Jordan related to cardiovascular disease, biomedical informatics and machine learning. 

Al-Zaiti also recently published a study developing a machine-learning model using electrocardiogram readings to improve diagnoses of heart attacks. 

Al-Zaiti, S. S., Martin-Gill, C., Zègre-Hemsey, J. K. et al. Machine learning for ECG diagnosis and risk stratification of occlusion myocardial infarction. Nat Med 29, 1804–1813 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-023-02396-3

Noah Bourne, DNP '23, BS '19, was recognized with the Region 1 Student NP Leadership Award from the Nurse Practitioner Association New York State.

Suzanne Carroll, MS '95, was a recipient of the 2023 Mara Mogensen Flaherty Memorial Lectureship Award from the Oncology Nursing Society. The lecture award supports an annual topic related to the psychosocial aspects of a cancer diagnosis, treatment and care. This year, award recipients led a panel discussion on current challenges for nursing sustainability. Carroll's presentation focused on moral distress and maladaptive coping behaviors in nursing.

Jenna L. Goldsmith, MS '08, BS '06, was recognized as one of this year’s Buffalo Business First 40 Under 40 for her work as owner of  Jenna L. Goldsmith NP Medical Spa.

Lisa Greisler, BS ‘79, was recognized as one of this year’s Buffalo Business First Power 200 Women for her work as president of Visiting Nursing Association of Western New York.

Emily Jerge, BS '06, was recognized as one of this year’s Buffalo Business First 40 Under 40 for her work as director of the nursing simulation and clinical practice center at D'Youville University.

Sally Kaplan, BS '82, was named 2022 Northwell Health Research Nurse of the Year.

Mary Ann Long, BS ‘89, was recognized as one of this year’s Buffalo Business First Power 200 Women for her work as senior vice president of nursing at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Rebecca McCormick-Boyle, BS ‘81, was recognized as one of this year’s Buffalo Business First Power 200 Women for her work as Catholic Health's chief integration officer.

Jim Zolnowski, MSN, BS '07, RN, NE-BC, has served as vice president and chief nurse executive at Dignity Health Glendale Memorial Hospital and Health Center in Glendale, CA, since June 2022. 

Mary Carey, BS '90, was selected as an honoree of Sigma Theta Tau’s 2022 International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame.

Susan Brooks, BS '94, was named the new vice president of patient care services at Mount St. Mary’s Hospital.

Suzanne Carroll, MS '95, was recently published in the Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing.

Carroll, S. (2022). Is it time to stop the war on cancer? Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, 26(5), 576. doi:10.1188/22CJON.576 

Beth Nicastro, MS '95, an ANCC-certified pediatric nurse practitioner, is an undergraduate clinical instructor and RN to BS adjunct professor at UB School of Nursing. She is also active in the WNY stroke community as a caregiver and survivor advocate and works as a legal nurse consultant and health writer. 

Kimberley Ennis, MS '07, BS '05, was named one of the National Black Nurses Association 2022 Under 40 Awardees.

Mark Blazey, BS '08, was appointed to the 2022-2023 NYSANA 
Board of Directors on the nominating committee.

Sara King, BS '17, was recognized as one of Buffalo Business First's 2022 30 Under 30 honorees.

Kara Hedman, DNP '16, was appointed to the 2022-2023 NYSANA 
Board of Directors as vice president.

Nora Balon, DNP '18, BS '12, was named the 2021 Advanced Practice Provider of the Year by Kenmore Mercy Hospital. The award recognizes an exceptional advanced practice provider for their impact on the profession, the patients and the healthcare team. 

Brian Stewart, BS '19, placed second in the 2022 Twisted Branch 100K Trail Run. Read about his running experience.

Lori-Jeanne West, DNP '22, was hired as a clinical assistant professor at Upstate Medical University College of Nursing. West will teach courses in undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs.

Lisa Greisler (BS ‘79) was named one of this year's Buffalo Business First Excellence in Health Care winners for her work as president of Visiting Nursing Association of Western New York.

Dawn Franits (BS '81) passed the National Certified School Nurse (NCSN) exam from the National Board for Certification of School Nurses.

Rebecca McCormick-Boyle (BS '81) was recognized as one of Buffalo Business First's 2021 Power 200 Women.

Martha Dewey Bergren (DNS '03, MS '92), became the Journal of School Nursing executive editor. She retired from the University of Illinois Chicago College of Nursing in 2020.

Katherine Simonson (BS '03) was confirmed by the United States Senate for promotion to Brigadier General.

Kimberley Ennis (BS '07, BS '05) received the 2020 Administrative Nurse of the Year award from the National Black Nurses Association and the 2020 Rising Stars 40 under 40 award from the Business Council of Westchester. She was also promoted to Senior Director of Nursing at Mount Sinai Queens Hospital.

Meghan Blazey (PhD '11, MS '07, BS '05) has been named a fellow of the American Academy of Nurses.

Junxin Li (PhD '14) was inducted as a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (AAN) in October 2020.

Susan Marks (DNP ‘15) was elected to lead The Nurse Practitioner Association New York State, which represents over 14,000 actively practicing nurse practitioners across the state.

Kara Hedman (DNP '16) joined the New York State Association of Nurse Anesthetists (NYSANA) Board of Directors.

Theresa Capriotti (BS ‘78) has been a clinical professor of nursing for 25 years at Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania. She has authorized many textbooks and more than 40 journal articles. 

Rebecca McCormick-Boyle (BS ‘81) was named to Catholic Health board of directors in 2019 and was named chief integration officer at Catholic Health in 2020. In this role, she will provide executive oversight for implementation of Catholic Health's 2025 strategic plan 

Dianne Morrison-Beedy (MS ‘83) received the Audrey Hepburn Award for Contributions to the Health and Welfare of Children at the 2019 Sigma Nursing Convention. 

Paula Seidel Glass (BS ‘81) became a Certified Nursing Educator through the National League for Nursing in August 2019.

Michael Ackerman (MS '85, DNS '91) was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing in October 2019. 

Jennifer Crotty (BS ‘97) currently serves as chief flight nurse at MercyFlight WNY and emergency room nurse at St. Joseph Campus.

Mary Ann Murphy (BS ‘84, MS ‘94) received The Catherine McAuley Distinguished Alumna Award from Mt. Mercy Academy. She is the director of the Maternal Child Unit at Mercy Hospital, where she has served for over 35 years.

Peter Tinnesz (BS '89, MS '93) received the Advance Practice Provider Mentorship Award and the CRNA Educator of the Year Award from Southern Connecticut State University. He is the non-operating room anesthesia lead nurse anesthetist at Yale New Haven Hospital. 

Salah Al-Zaiti (MS ‘10, PhD ‘13) received the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award. He is currently an associate professor, acute and tertiary care, at the University of Pittsburg School of Nursing. 

Mimi Haskins (MS ‘98, DNP ‘15) was awarded the 2019 Certified Medical-Surgical Nurse of Distinction.

Charnelle Lewis (DNP ‘19) was honored among Buffalo's 2019 Changemakers 30 under 30 in the science/humanities category. She was also featured on nurse.org about why she chose a doctorate degree over a master’s of science in nursing.

Jessica Varghese (PhD ‘17) was promoted to director of the RN to BS program at the New York Institute of Technology. She also won best poster during the Faculty Practice pre-conference session at the 2019 AACN Doctoral Education Conference.