The Alliance for Nursing Informatics (ANI) and the Health Information Management Society (HIMSS) are pleased to celebrate the recognition of Dr Marisa L. Wilson, DNSc, RN-BC, CPHIMS, FAMIA, FIAH, FAAN, as the recipient of the 2022 HIMSS-ANI Nursing Leadership Award. Given annually, this international award recognizes an individual who demonstrates significant leadership contributions by optimizing health engagements and care outcomes through information and technology. This leadership award is granted to an individual for success and achievement as a nursing informatics leader in a provider organization, a vendor, academic organization, or professional society.
Dr Wilson is the interim department chair for Family, Community and Health Systems Nursing, and associate professor and director of the Graduate Leadership Pathway University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing. Over the past 7 years, she has served as director of Nursing Health Services MSN Leadership Pathway and associate professor, Specialty Track Coordinator MSN Nursing Informatics. Dr Wilson is a well-respected nursing informatics thought leader who has demonstrated prolific national and international leadership, particularly focused on nursing informatics education and nursing informatics competencies. She has a stellar record of disseminating knowledge and engaging the community to achieve a vision of informatics-competent nurses. Her record of publications and presentations is expansive and global.
Dr Wilson is known for pushing the boundaries of knowledge and understanding, bringing a bold voice and unwavering commitment to exemplar efforts such as the collaboration with the American Association of Colleges of Nurses (AACN) and the University of Minnesota Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation-funded Quality and Safety Education for Nurses initiative spanning over 3 years to advance the informatics literacy of nursing faculty in partnership with AACN members. Dr Wilson is actively involved in nursing informatics leadership for HIMSS and the TIGER Initiative, evolving and transforming the TIGER competencies effort into a robust international collaborative nursing presence. Dr Wilson is a workgroup member for the American Nurses Association Scope and Standards of Nursing Informatics Practice, recently contributing tireless collaboration to achieve consensus for the Nursing Informatics: Scope and Standards of Practice, Third Edition. She has and has provided visionary and pragmatic leadership in the recent development efforts of the AACN to define quality in nursing education through the revision of the Essentials that outline the necessary curriculum content and expected competencies of graduates from baccalaureate, master's, and doctor of nursing practice programs.
As a second career nurse, Dr Wilson leveraged her prenursing information technology and computer science preparation and systems perspective to make her early public health contributions invaluable. She skillfully transitioned these experiences to successful career roles in healthcare and academic institutions and volunteer nursing informatics leadership roles in the American Medical Informatics Association and the Nursing Informatics Work Group, the International Medical Informatics Association-Nursing Informatics Specialist Interest group, the Summer Institute in Nursing Informatics at the University of Maryland, the Nursing Knowledge Big Data Science Initiative at the University of Minnesota, The Academy of Nursing and the Expert Panel for Informatics and Technology, the board of directors of the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management, and the Maryland HIMSS Chapter.
Dr Wilson was selected for this award by the HIMSS Board of Directors and the Governing Directors of the ANI, supported by written peer nominations. We extend our heartiest congratulations and applause for the international recognition of Dr Wilson and gratitude for her contributions to advancing the field of nursing and nursing informatics.
Those who know Dr Marisa Wilson fully understand how passionate she is about making a difference in the global healthcare ecosystem with a laser-sharp focus on supporting the evolution and advancement of the nursing informatics field.
Torie Shaw Morawski, MSW, and members of the TIGER International Task Force
Her stellar and indefatigable passion and commitment to quality in all aspects of nursing informatics, healthcare informatics, nursing, and healthcare know no bounds! Dr Wilson's influence and touch are felt in all segments of the practice, education, administration, research, and policy domains.
Carol Bickford, PhD, RN-BC, CPHIMS, FAMIA, FHIMSS, FAAN, American Nurses Association