2010 - Alumni Award Recipients
The Alumni Award for Excellence in Nursing
Ann Hotter Tescher, RN, PhD, CCRN, CCNS, FCCM
BSN ’77
The alumni award for Excellence in Nursing is presented annually to a graduate of the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing who is a national or international leader in nursing issues.
Dr. Ann Tescher is a clinical nurse specialist (Surgical/Trauma Intensive Care Unit) and a Researcher Engaged in Practice, in the Department of Nursing at Mayo Clinic. She is an assistant professor of nursing, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.
Doreen K. Frusti, Chair, Department of Nursing at Mayo Clinic said, “Dr. Tescher has made significant contributions to advancing the professional and scientific discipline of nursing. She has remained actively involved in clinical practice throughout her career and has demonstrated leadership in professional practice and practice innovation. Dr. Tescher has further contributed to professional nursing practice by serving as a long-standing mentor and representing Mayo Clinic at international nursing conferences. Dr. Tescher is highly respected by her peers and is recognized for multi-disciplinary collaboration in practice, quality improvement, and research.”
Also a commander in the Navy Nurse Corps, Tescher faced the additional complication of being recalled to active duty around the time of her dissertation defense while pursuing her PhD at the UWM. Fortunately, the Navy granted Commander Tescher time to finish her dissertation process, and she presented her defense on March 3. On March 4, she and her husband celebrated their third wedding anniversary. And on March 5, she reported to duty in the intensive care unit at the Navy Hospital in Bremerton, Washington.
Captain Tescher transferred to Retired Reserve on December 1, 2008. She has four Navy/Marine Corps Commendation Medals and one Navy/Marine Corps Achievement Medal. To achieve these awards, an individual must distinguish themselves by heroic or meritorious achievement or service. Her commitment and dedication to serving our country is recognized and applauded.
Dr. Tescher is celebrating this honor today with her husband, Ren Tescher, and lovely daughter, Margaret, who is six.
The Alumni Award for Clinical Achievement in Nursing
Anne Atkinson Moore, MSN, RNC, FAANP
BSN ’76, MSN ’81
The alumni award for Clinical Achievement in Nursing is presented to a graduate of the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing for proficiency in clinical, patient-centered practice.
Anne Moore is a certified women's health nurse practitioner and Professor of Nursing at VUSN. She developed the women's health nurse practitioner program at VUSN in 1992 which has graduated over 400 practitioners with this specialty focus.
Anne is a member of the Board of Directors for the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women's Health and serves on the editorial board of Women's Health Care: A Practical Guide for Nurse Practitioners. She lectures nationally on topics related to women's health care and nurse practitioners as providers of this care.
In addition to her teaching responsibilities, Anne maintains an active practice in Nashville, Tennessee, in collaboration with Dr. Roseann Maikis. She is a certified colposcopist and specializes in well woman care.
Anne has made presentations regionally and nationally at the National Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Symposium, American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Annual Meeting and the Society of Urologic Nurses and Associates, to name a few. Some of her honors include: Fellow in American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, member of Who’s Who in American Nursing, and Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner of the Year, National Certification Corporation.
In Julie Caldwell’s nomination, she said, “Anne gives students confidence in their choice and ability to care for female patients. She instills the desire to advocate for women’s health throughout our entire careers. Her patients are loyal and respect her tremendously. Anne has been president of National Practitioners in Women’s Health and is a fellow of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. Her contribution to the nursing profession from an academic, professional and political standpoint is not measureable.”
Friend of Nursing
Dr. Robert E. Taylor
Dr. Robert Taylor has fond memories of the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing because of his beloved wife, Ann Schuh Taylor, BSN ’51. They spent 55 years together and Dr. Taylor always said that his wonderful wife, Annie, was his best friend. He said, “Vanderbilt University School of Nursing enhanced her basic personality of service and gave her the abilities she needed to effectively touch the lives of so many people. Her first love was pediatrics followed by public health nursing.” Dr. Taylor cherishes the VUSN as he believes that the School played a very important role in his life and in the life of his family.
Because of his deep commitment to the VUSN, Dr. Taylor made an investment in the renovations of the Godchaux Hall Living Room because he and his wife had “courted there for 18 months” and he has sweet memories of laughter and friends. Also, as a memorial to his wife who passed away in 2007, Dr. Taylor funded the Centennial Lecture Series which brought some great speakers to the Vanderbilt University campus including General Russell Honoré, who led the rescue effort in Louisiana after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. The Lecture Series was an integral part of the VUSN Centennial agenda and many alumni, students, and members of the community benefited from attending. Finally, Dr. Taylor established a scholarship fund in memory of his wife to make it possible for future deserving nursing students to have an opportunity of the education that was so important to her.
Dr. Taylor is a Vanderbilt University graduate and is a retired bio-chemist from the University of Alabama. The Taylors have two children and four grandchildren.
Former VUSN Director of Development Wendy O’Neil said “Dr. Taylor is the best read person I have ever known in my life and by far one of the best traveled and most interesting.”
We are deeply grateful to Dr. Robert Taylor and his family who out of their love for a great woman have chosen to invest in a great school.
VUSN Honorary Alumnus
Harry Gwirtsman, M.D.
The Honorary Alumnus is awarded from time to time by the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing Alumni Association in recognition of significant contributions to the nursing school by an individual whose academic credentials were obtained elsewhere.
Dr. Harry Gwirtsman has been a member of the Vanderbilt University Department of Psychiatry since 1995. He was Director of the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine from 1998 until 2006. He currently serves as the Director of Inpatient Services and the Psychiatry-Medical Unit (PMU), as well as the Consultation-Liaison Service, and is also Director of the Geriatric Psychiatry Program at the Nashville Veterans Administration—Tennessee Valley Healthcare System. He is board certified in Adult Psychiatry, and has subspecialty boards in Geriatric Psychiatry.
Dr. Gwirtsman earned a BA from Yale College and an M.D. at the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. Additionally, he was a Resident in Adult Psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine. Areas of clinical expertise include eating disorders, geriatric psychiatry, and dementia in the elderly. Some of his research interests include biological dysfunction in patients with anorexia and bulimia, obesity, and mood disorders, especially related to neuroregulation of mood, and feeding and satiety.
According to Whitney Wormer, MSN ’03, “Dr. Gwirtsman has been a wonderful asset to Vanderbilt University School of Nursing as he has assisted many Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners in their training by providing teaching opportunities at the Veterans Administration Hospital of Nashville and at the Villages at Vanderbilt. Students who have had the pleasure to work with Dr. Gwirtsman as part of their clinical experiences recall how encouraging he has been to them as they gain their psychiatry skills and how much of an expert he is in delivery of care. His bedside manner is second to none and his clinical decision making is superior. We have all been extremely thankful for his superior instruction and we thank him for his commitment to the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing.”
Dr. Gwirtsman is celebrating this honor today with his wife, Karen Rosenthal-Gwirtsman, MSN ’02.
The President’s Award of Distinction
Dr. Beatrice Goodwin
BSN ’55
The President’s Award of Distinction is presented to graduates of the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing who are recognized for distinguished contributions to nursing and to their communities.
After graduating from Vanderbilt in 1955, Dr. Goodwin went on to earn a doctorate at New York University College of Nursing where she received their prestigious Founder’s Award.
According to VUSN 1955 classmate Elizabeth Buchanan Hauer, “No one can match what Bea is currently doing to help improve nursing education in South America. It is amazing to me.”
Dr. Goodwin is currently spearheading the New York University College of Nursing’s work in Latin America on curriculum consultation for 28 universities in Colombia, Argentina and Chile. Dr. Goodwin and her colleague present intensive three-day workshops in Spanish, to assist faculty in critiquing and revising their curricula. In addition, she has worked for several years in Bogota, Colombia, assisting faculty in the design of basic research on elder care. She has helped two Colombian universities to develop master’s programs—one in geriatric nursing and another in mental health nursing. And, at a new university, in Bucaramanga, Colombia, she has helped a nursing program become the first department to be nationally accredited.
Dr. Goodwin has held a variety of positions in her career including Chief Nurse, Aeromedical Evacuation Flight with the New York Air National Guard; professor of nursing and department chairperson at Herbert H. Lehman College in Bronx, NY; staff nurse in the Maternity and Newborn Nursery at Cornell University, and is currently a Senior Advisor to the Dean at the New York University College of Nursing. She has served on multiple University committees and led presentations at international nursing workshops. In 2008, NYU College of Nursing honored Dr. Goodwin as the Distinguished Nurse Alumna.
