I am honored to nominate Dr. Nadeen Alshakhshir for the DAISY Award for Equity-Minded Nursing. In every aspect of her work, Nadeen demonstrates a deep understanding of equity and cultural humility, so much so that her equity-minded actions are automatic and part of her character. As a nurse who grew up and completed her early nursing education in Jordan, Dr. Alshakhshir has lived experience that makes cultural humility automatic. She is instinctively empathetic toward those who are vulnerable, shaped by biases, assumptions, and unspoken power differentials. Her lived experience gives her a unique ‘dual-vision’ – an innate ability to recognize the unspoken cultural needs of colleagues and patients that often go unnoticed in a Western-centric model. She consistently models how to transform ‘otherness’ into a point of connection rather than a barrier to care.

This deep valuing of lived experience is the essence of Dr. Alshakhshir’s research program, which focuses on understanding spiritual identity among adolescents and young adults with cancer. In her preliminary research exploring the phenomenon of “awakening the spiritual identity”, she demonstrated that adolescents and young adults attach meaning to their spirituality based on their lived experience with the cancer journey. In her current work, she aims to develop guidelines to implement spiritual care as a standard of nursing practice, with an emphasis on improving mental health outcomes for adolescents and young adults with cancer.

Dr. Alshakhshir regularly seeks out opportunities for development; her commitment to promoting health equity across nursing research, practice, education, and service is an ever-present focus. She has completed equity-oriented research training in adolescent health, culturally confident engagement, and ableism in healthcare settings. To enhance her effectiveness as an equity-minded educator, she has pursued professional development to foster classroom belonging, address linguistic bias, and decolonize disability. In her two years as a scholar in the School of Nursing, Dr. Alshakhshir has volunteered with the HARK committee to support recognition of others and with the Inclusivity, Diversity, and Equity Advocacy committee.

Over the past two years, I have observed Dr. Alshakhshir demonstrate remarkable perseverance and a steadfast commitment to equity, even amidst the most taxing global and local challenges. From navigating anti-immigrant rhetoric and the presence of ICE in Minneapolis to the personal weight of conflict in the Middle East, she has remained an unwavering advocate for the vulnerable. While I may never fully grasp the burden of being ‘othered’, I am profoundly humbled by Dr. Alshakhshir’s ability to transform that experience into a catalyst for healing and inclusion. She is leading through challenge and promoting health equity in nursing in every sense, ensuring that the world becomes a more equitable place for each person she encounters.