Faculty Alonso, Elgin, and Mitchell to be Inducted as American Academy of Nursing Fellows this Fall 

Three UVA School of Nursing faculty will be inducted as Fellows of the American Academy of Nursing this October: Windy Alonso, the School’s incoming associate professor and department of nursing research chair, who begins her role Jul. 25, Kim Elgin, a part-time faculty member and director of advanced practice providers at UVA Health, and Emma Mitchell, associate professor and an NIH-funded nurse scientist.  

The trio will be celebrated at the group’s annual Health Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., Oct. 16-18, 2025. The School will celebrate Alonso, Elgin, and Mitchell together with inductees from several other area nursing schools at a shared reception Oct. 17 with nursing deans from George Washington University, Old Dominion University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and James Madison University at the Marriott Marquis Hotel.  

“Windy, Kim, and Emma each bring such important, distinctive approaches to nursing, clinical practice, teaching, and science,” said Marianne Baernholdt, the Pew Charitable Trusts Dean and Professor. “This honor is so well deserved. What a joy it will be to celebrate them.”   

Windy Alonso, PhD, RN, FHFSA, FAHA   
Department of Nursing Research chair and associate professor   

An award-winning educator and an NIH-funded nurse scientist with expertise in heart failure and rural health, Alonso leads the HEART Camp Connect research team, and a $3.9 million National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-funded study that promotes exercise among patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. She’s also earned funding from the National Institute for Nursing Research, the Heart Failure Society of America, the Rural Nurse Organization, and the Midwest Nursing Research Society, and worked clinically with populations from neonates to veterans.  Alonso—who begins in her role at UVA in July 2025—came to the School from the University of Nebraska Medical Center and is additionally a fellow of the American Heart Association, the Heart Failure Society of America, and the National Rural Health Association.  

Kim Elgin, DNP, APRN, ACNS-BC, PCCN, CMSRN, FCNS  
Part-time faculty member and director of advanced practice providers, UVA Health  

At UVA Health University Medical Center, Elgin (MSN ’11) leads care teams of advanced practice providers and is a part-time faculty member at the School who teaches advanced practice nursing students in the DNP and post-master's programs. She’s championed the optimization of the Clinical Nurse Specialist role across the nation by seeking to remove barriers and support top-of-license practice for advanced practice providers within and beyond UVA, and repeatedly achieved recognition at the local, regional, and national levels for her efforts. An advocate for policies that elevated CNSs’ scope of practice in Virginia, Elgin also earned the 2022 ANCC Magnet Nurse of the Year: Structural Empowerment Award for her work.  

Emma Mitchell, PhD, RN, CPH 
Associate professor and nurse scientist  

Mitchell (MSN ’08, PhD ’12) earned a $1.2 million NIH grant to conduct research in Nicaragua focused on development and implementation of innovative technologies that increase access to cervical cancer screening and treatment, including implementing an mHealth intervention into a HPV screening program. Over the past 17 years, she has worked with partners to test and implement tele-colposcopy, distribution of HPV self-collection tests, and, on Nicaragua’s rural Caribbean coast, trained providers to recognize and treat cervical cancer lesions using a mobile cervical simulator and mobile thermo-ablation. Her research seeks to develop culturally- and regionally-tailored approaches and protocols that will prevent women at high risk for cervical cancer mortality from dying from it through treatment, education, and smartphone-delivered follow-up. In addition to the NIH grant, Mitchell has also earned funding from the Jefferson Trust Foundation to develop a unique disaster preparedness program at both UVA and at the Bluefields Indian and Caribbean University School of Nursing in Nicaragua, which trains nursing students to prepare for emergencies brought about by climate change.   

Five alumni of the School of Nursing will also be inducted as American Academy of Nursing Fellows, including:

• Andrea Knopp (PhD ’10), James Madison University School of Nursing
• Eunhee Park (MSN ’13, PhD ’15), University of Buffalo School of Nursing, SUNY
• Bethany Robertson (BSN ’89), Wolters Kluwer Health, Learning, Research, and Practice Division
• Amy Sawyer (BSN ’02), University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
• Sheila Cox Sullivan (MSN ’96), U.S. Department of Veterans' Affairs, Office of Nursing Services

The American Academy of Nursing Fellowship, among the highest professional honors a nurse may earn, is awarded annually to select individuals invited by the Academy to leaders in education, management, practice and research. The group describes inductees as “thought leaders who advance the Academy’s mission of improving health and achieving health equity by impacting policy through nursing leadership, innovation, and science.”   

The 2025 cohort of Academy Fellows, so-called "FAANs,” are “instrumental in using nursing’s holistic approach to improve the health of patients and communities throughout the world," the Academy said in a statement. The 2025 cohort of FAANs represent 42 states, the District of Columbia, and 12 countries, and join more than 3,200 Academy Fellows worldwide.   

At UVA School of Nursing, there are 20 national academies fellows among the School’s full-time faculty. In total, with Alonso, Elgin, and Mitchell’s forthcoming honor, the School will be home to 17 AAN Fellows.  

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