Director of the University of the West Indies (UWI) School of Nursing, Mona, Dr Hermi Hewitt, will be inducted into the American Academy of Nursing as one of the Academy's new Fellows for 2009.

Dr Hewitt was nominated for this honour by two current Academy Fellows and was selected by the Academy's 15-member Fellow Selection Committee for her outstanding achievements in the nursing profession.

induction banquet

Dr Hewitt will be formally inducted as a Fellow with 97 other nurse leaders during the Academy's annual awards ceremony and induction banquet in Atlanta, Georgia, on November 7.

The American Academy of Nursing is constituted to anticipate national and international trends in health care, and address resulting issues of health care knowledge and policy. Not only is the invitation to fellowship recognition of one's accomplishments within the nursing profession, but it also affords an opportunity to work with other leaders in health care in addressing the issues of the day. The academy's mission is to serve the public and nursing profession by advancing health policy and practice through the generation, synthesis, and dissemination of nursing knowledge.

Dr Hewitt is a graduate of the University Hospital School of Nursing, The University of the West Indies, Tulane University and The University of Iowa, and was the first nurse in Jamaica to be awarded the Hubert Humphrey Fellowship and the only nurse in Jamaica to be awarded this Fellowship. She was the recipient of the Vice Chancellor's Award for Excellence in 2008 for all-round performance in teaching and service to the UWI community.