We are honored to announce the 2026 recipients of the University of Colorado College of Nursing Alumni Association Awards. These outstanding alumni have made significant contributions to the nursing field and their communities, and it is a pleasure to celebrate them and their achievements.
CU Nursing Alumni Association Awards
Wednesday, June 10, 2026
6:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Balistreri Vineyards
Lifetime Achievement Award: Ruby J. Martinez, PhD, CNS, RxN, PMHCNSBC
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Dr. Ruby J. Martinez is a distinguished psychiatric mental health nurse whose career spans more than four decades of clinical practice, education, leadership and service. A longtime member of the CU Anschutz Nursing community, Dr. Martinez earned multiple degrees from the university, including her PhD in nursing in 1995, and later served as faculty, retiring as associate professor emerita.
Drawn to nursing through early experiences in her Hispanic/Latina culture, Dr. Martinez was intrigued by the healers who used prayer, herbs, rituals and other remedies, and how people in her culture experienced health and illness. She found that nursing allowed her to merge a desire to care for others with a deeper calling to healing and service.
Dr. Martinez began her clinical career in medical-surgical and cardiac care before transitioning to psychiatric nursing, a decision shaped by her desire to better support patients facing death, loss and emotional suffering. Her early work at the Colorado Mental Health Hospital in Fort Logan proved transformative. There, she spent 18 years serving as staff nurse, charge nurse, nurse manager, division chief nurse and assistant director of nursing, caring for individuals with severe and persistent mental illness. She came to view mental illness as “every bit as debilitating as any heart attack or stroke,” and committed her career to serving populations often overlooked or stigmatized.
In 1997, Dr. Martinez joined the CU Anschutz Nursing faculty, where she taught undergraduate and graduate psychiatric nursing for eight years. She was recognized with multiple teaching awards and was widely respected for her mentorship of students. Reflecting on her faculty role, she shares that being invited to join the colleagues who had taught her was an incredible honor and that mentoring students was the most meaningful aspect of her academic career.
After her time at CU Anschutz, Dr. Martinez continued to serve in leadership and clinical roles, including as nurse manager of adolescent and adult inpatient psychiatric units at Denver Health and later in outpatient psychiatric practice at AllHealth Network. She provided care to diverse and complex populations, including individuals involved in the criminal justice system, and remained clinically active until her retirement in 2025.
Beyond clinical and academic roles, Dr. Martinez has demonstrated sustained national, state and community leadership. She served for four years on the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Advisory Council for Mental Health Services, held numerous leadership roles within the National Association of Hispanic Nurses, and is a founding member of the National Latino Behavioral Health Association. Her contributions to inclusive excellence and culturally responsive care have been recognized with numerous honors, including the Latino Legacy Award.
Through a career grounded in compassion, humility and advocacy, Dr. Martinez has left a lasting impact on patients, students, colleagues and the nursing profession.
Pathfinder Award: Emily Anne Barr, PhD, CNM, CPNP-PC, ACRN, FACNM, FAAN
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Dr. Emily Anne Barr is a renowned nurse-scientist, clinician and educator whose work has advanced HIV care for women, children and families through innovative, compassionate and interdisciplinary approaches. A graduate of CU Anschutz Nursing, Dr. Barr earned a nursing education certificate in 2019 and completed her PhD in nursing in 2021.
Her path to nursing began after college, when volunteer work introduced her to a lay Catholic community caring for infants and children living with HIV and AIDS. That experience led her to early research focused on preventing perinatal HIV transmission, where she observed nurse practitioners and midwives delivering care that combined clinical expertise, advocacy and research. “That blend of compassionate care and scientific inquiry inspired me to pursue advanced practice nursing and a career focused on HIV care,” she says.
Dr. Barr’s doctoral training at CU Anschutz Nursing was shaped by the Caring Science program and an interdisciplinary mentoring model that paired biobehavioral and science advisors. This approach strengthened her interest in patient–provider trust and HIV outcomes while she continued working full time at the perinatal, pediatric and adolescent HIV clinic at Children’s Hospital Colorado. She credits the PhD faculty’s dedication, the program’s flexibility and her cohort community as central to her growth as a scholar.
Clinically, Dr. Barr spent more than two decades providing care to women, children and youth living with HIV in Colorado, while also directing a large, multi-center clinical trials program through CU Anschutz and Children’s Hospital Colorado. Her work included international HIV trials and collaboration with global partners developing pediatric and maternal HIV care and prevention programs.
Since completing her PhD, Dr. Barr has expanded her research to examine trust in healthcare, HIV care engagement, maternal–child health, breastfeeding in the context of HIV, vaccine confidence and the ways individuals identify silver linings amid chronic illness. She currently serves as associate professor and director of translational innovation in Maternal, Child and Family Health at the University at Buffalo School of Nursing. Her research emphasizes innovative strategies such as telehealth, breastfeeding support and community-engaged approaches to improve care for people living with HIV.
A national leader in HIV research, Dr. Barr is lead co-investigator and vice chair of the UPLIFT study, a CDC- and NIH-supported national protocol examining infant feeding decisions among people living with HIV in the United States. She also serves on the board of directors for the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care and contributes to interdisciplinary scholarship as associate faculty with the McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics.
Through a career grounded in clinical excellence, research innovation and humanistic inquiry, Dr. Barr continues to shape new pathways in nursing science and HIV care.
Distinguished Alumni Award: Andrea (Schneider) Wallace, PhD, RN, FAAN
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Dr. Andrea (Schneider) Wallace is a nationally recognized nurse-scientist whose career has advanced how health systems understand and respond to the factors that shape patients’ health, particularly for individuals and families managing chronic illness. A two-time graduate of the CU Anschutz College of Nursing, she completed her nursing doctorate in 2002 and her PhD in nursing in 2006, building a foundation that would anchor her career in both clinical practice and research.
Dr. Wallace’s interest in nursing began during her undergraduate studies in psychology and biology at CU Boulder, where she became intrigued by the work of nurse-scientists whose research prioritized patient experience and the broader context surrounding health. As she explored these ideas, she found that nursing “combined science, patient-centered care and systems thinking in a way that felt both intellectually and personally meaningful.” Her early work in health policy and volunteer experiences in clinical settings solidified her commitment to a profession grounded in whole-person care.
Her time at CU Anschutz Nursing played a transformative role in shaping her path. Entering through the nursing doctorate program — the predecessor to today’s DNP — she was immersed in an environment where faculty were redefining advanced practice nursing. Mentors recognized her emerging interest in how health systems functioned and encouraged her to pursue research. That support ultimately led her to the PhD program, where her dissertation, “Accessing Asthma Care: A Case Study of Urban Children,” reflected her growing focus on underserved populations and the structural factors influencing care.
Today, Dr. Wallace serves as professor and associate dean for research at the University of Utah College of Nursing. Her work spans health services research, social determinants of health, patient–provider communication, chronic disease management and health literacy. Through major federally funded studies, including the SINCERE research program, she and her colleagues have created and tested approaches that help health systems identify patients’ social needs, connect them to resources and better support family caregivers, whose often-invisible contributions significantly affect outcomes.
Dr. Wallace and her team members have secured substantial research funding across NIH, AHRQ and foundation sources. She has authored more than 70 peer-reviewed publications and provided guidance to more than 30 doctoral students, reflecting her deep commitment to advancing the next generation of nurse researchers.
“What continues to inspire me about nursing is its ability to connect scientific discovery with real-world impact,” she says — a principle that has guided her throughout her career. Her work demonstrates the essential role nurses play in leading interdisciplinary solutions to improve health equity, strengthen care systems and elevate patient and family experiences across diverse settings.
Rising Star Award: Suzanne Harp, MSN, APRN, PMHNPBC
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Suzanne Harp is a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner whose early career reflects a deep commitment to thoughtful, patient-centered care. She earned her bachelor’s degree from CU Anschutz Nursing in 2017 and has since developed a diverse clinical background spanning medical-surgical nursing, hospice care, clinical education and psychiatric practice.
Ms. Harp’s path to nursing began with a profound personal experience. Following the birth of her first child, she was deeply influenced by the care she received from labor and delivery nurses. “They were supportive, patient and deeply kind during one of the most vulnerable moments of my life,” she recalls. Although several years passed before she could pursue nursing school, that experience shaped her desire to offer the same steady presence and compassion to others.
Her time at CU Anschutz Nursing was both challenging and formative. The program’s small lab-group model fostered close relationships and a strong support system, which proved especially meaningful when her mother became ill and passed away during Ms. Harp’s second semester. A faculty mentor, Gail Armstrong, provided extraordinary support during that period, helping her navigate grief while meeting academic demands. Ms. Harp credits the program’s rigor with preparing her exceptionally well for licensure and early nursing roles, noting that the strong educational foundation she received continues to inform her practice.
Ms. Harp began her career on a medical-surgical unit at a community hospital, intentionally choosing a setting that allowed her to build strong clinical fundamentals. She later transitioned into hospice care, where she spent five years as both a nurse case manager and a clinical educator supporting nurses, certified nursing assistants, social workers and chaplains. That work strengthened her leadership skills and reinforced the importance of holistic, interdisciplinary care.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ms. Harp saw firsthand the critical role of clinical guidance grounded in research amid rapidly evolving recommendations. At the same time, her family encountered significant barriers to accessing mental healthcare for her children — an experience that reshaped her professional focus. She pursued graduate education to become a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner and gained hands-on experience at Children’s Hospital Colorado in both inpatient and outpatient adolescent psychiatric settings. She now provides outpatient psychiatric care to patients across the lifespan.
Across every role, Ms. Harp emphasizes individualized treatment, collaborative care and informed choice. “Informed consent without shared decision-making is incomplete,” she says. “And shared decision-making without true understanding is not meaningful.” Looking ahead, she plans to pursue doctoral education and hopes to return to academia to teach at the graduate level, continuing the cycle of mentorship that shaped her own journey.
Are you a CU College of Nursing alumna/us with a passion for nurse recognition? Learn more about the CU Nursing Alumni Association or reach out to Katelyn.Nolan@CUAnschutz.edu for more information.
