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Alumni Updates

Shari Dingle Sandifer (BSN 1988) was named a finalist for the Florida Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 Awards in the health care category. Sandifer is founder and CEO of Avant Healthcare Professionals in Casselberry, Fla., a health care staffing company specializing in the recruitment, placement and transitioning of internationally educated health care professionals. Awards are given to entrepreneurs who have demonstrated excellence and extraordinary success in areas such as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Sandifer also received the 2012 Enterprising Women of the Year award by Enterprising Women magazine. 

Anna Schwartz, PhD, FNP, FAAN, (BSN 1988) received the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) 2012 Rose Mary Carroll-Johnson Distinguished Award for Consistent Contribution to the Nursing Literature. The award recognizes the impact she has made on the oncology nursing profession through her writing, which has involved exploring research and sharing findings, detailing appropriate care for cancer patients and supporting the professional development of colleagues. Schwartz is an associate professor at Idaho State University in Pocatello and an affiliate professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. 

Jennifer Shea Zylis (BSN 1996) and Robert Zylis (BSN 1996, MSN 1999) operate their own health care practice in Ocala. Since 2009, the family-owned LifeForce Healthcare, LLC has provided health care services in various local skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, and independent living facilities, as well as provided home-based primary care services spanning a three-county area. They have collaborating agreements with seven local physicians and provide care in more than 20 facilities. Jennifer also recently accepted the role as “In-House Provider” for the Palm Garden of Ocala skilled nursing facility. 

Laurie Duckworth (MSN 2003, PhD 2007) was named the Director of Nursing Research and Advanced Practice for Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando. In her new position, she will work to promote research infrastructure and manage research programs. Duckworth has worked with Nemours since 1985 in several nurse management positions. She was most recently the Chair of Nursing Research for Nemours in Jacksonville, where she was a part of a team that developed a nursing research focus regarding how to transition pediatric patients to an adult model of care. 

Ashley Tuttle (BSN 2006, DNP 2012) received a $1,000 NAPNAP/Abbott Nutrition DNP Capstone Project Grant to assist in the completion of her project related to pediatric nutrition.

Amy Coopersmith (DNP 2012), a nurse practitioner at the Flagler County Health Department, is one of the founding members of Super Striders, a successful program that is fighting childhood obesity in Flagler County. The group holds free fitness classes for children and education classes for parents that teach them how to eat healthy, sleep well, read nutrition labels and maintain portion control.