CU Nursing's Pearl Treyball wins Nightingale Luminary Award

Mona Pearl Treyball, PhD, hoists a 20-plus-pound trophy up in the air for a guest to see. For the nursing professor, the bronze statue of a kneeling Florence Nightingale cradling a patient in her arms represents more than her recent win. It affirms her life’s work.

From the frontlines of the battlefield to the halls of academia, the retired Air Force colonel and University of Colorado College of Nursing professor has fought for the care and protection of this country’s military families for nearly 30 years.

Pearl Treyball is a 2019 winner of the Nightingale Luminary Award. The prestigious award recognizes excellence and innovation in nursing that extends Nightingale’s legacy.

“If you look closely, it appears she’s caring for a soldier,” Pearl Treyball said of the poignant statue of Nightingale comforting a person on the ground, just as she did on the battlefields of the Crimean War 165 years ago. “So our nursing profession is really rooted in caring for our military veterans.”

One of 24 selected for the this year’s regional award (out of 255 nominations), and one of 12 selected from 60 luminaries across the state, Pearl Treyball won for her work as founder and specialty director of the Veteran and Military Health Care (VMHC) program on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus.

Last year, U.S. News and World Report recognized Pearl Treyball and her program for service and innovation.

Other CU Anschutz colleagues recently recognized:

• April Giles, Fitzsimons Innovation Community vice president of business development, has been selected as a finalist for the Denver Business Journal’s “Outstanding Women in Business Award.” Giles leads strategy and growth initiatives for the Fitzsimons Innovation Community. The prestigious 21-year-old award program recognizes women from the Denver metro area for their innovation, entrepreneurship, professional accomplishment and community leadership.
• The University of Colorado School of Medicine has been recognized as an Employer of Excellence (EOE) for its support of physician assistants and other advanced practice providers at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus. The recognition comes from the American Academy of Physician Assistants’ Center for Healthcare Leadership and Management (CHLM). CHLM partnered with HealthStream to gain an understanding of what PAs value in their place of employment. Criteria for the EOE awards focused on: a positive and supportive PA work environment; providing opportunities for PAs to provide meaningful input that leads to positive organizational change; keeping PAs informed about organizational activity and decisions; involving PAs in leadership efforts to improve the quality of patient care; and creating processes for effective conflict management.