College of Nursing announces Distinguished Graduate Awards

Sophia Khawly, ARNP, FNP-BC, a family nurse practitioner at Better Choice Medical Center in Miami, Fla., began her career in nursing upon completing a practical nursing program in high school. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) from Florida State in 2011 and her Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) at the University of Miami.Since 2003, Khawly has been volunteering with nonprofit organization Hope for Haiti’s Children (HFHC), which provides hundreds of students a free education and health care.As a member of the HFHC board of directors, she helps raise funds to support public schools in Haiti.She also leads medical outreach mission trips that provide health care access to HFHC students and their families.

Ally Fields, DNP, ARNP, CEN, CCRN, a clinical nurse at the Bixler Emergency and Trauma Center at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, began her career as an emergency and trauma nurse after graduating with her BSN from FSU’s College of Nursing in 2005. Working at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Resuscitation Science, Fields helped with an innovative, new, and cutting-edge treatment for survivors of cardiac arrest called Therapeutic Hypothermia.That work inspired Fields to return to FSU in 2013 to pursue her Doctorate of Nursing Practice with a research focus on cardiac arrest and resuscitation science. Her research project, “A Study of the Effect of Initiation of Mild Therapeutic Hypothermia on Neurological Outcomes in the Cardiac Arrest Patient,” won the Sigma Theta Tau Outstanding Scholarship of Practice award.

Chiffon Holiday, MSN, ARNP, FNP-C, an Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Fla., received her BSN from FSU in 1990.Holiday has worked in the hospital’s Oncology, General/Medical, Surgical Intensive Care and Neurosurgical Intensive Care units at Jackson Memorial. After training in these areas, she later accepted a position with the Transplant Service. During her career, Holiday has been a patient advocate, nurse educator, mentored and precepted new nurses and given lectures at conferences and seminars on various topics. She works as an adjunct professor for Nova Southeastern University and as a clinical instructor for internal medical students at Ross University and American University of the Caribbean.

Kristy K. Martyn, PhD, RN, CPNP-PC, FAAN, a professor and assistant dean at the Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, received her BSN from FSU in 1978, and her MSN (1981) and Ph.D. (1998) from the University of Florida. At Emory, she serves as assistant dean of Clinical Advancement, director of the Doctor of Nursing Practice Program and the Independence Chair in Nursing. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, a member of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners Research Committee and an editorial board member for a number of journals. Since 1981, Martyn has been actively involved in nursing education, teaching and leading nursing education programs at all levels.

Theresa Winton, DNP, a faculty member at FSU’s College of Nursing, earned her BSN in 1999 from Florida State University.She went on to enroll as a graduate student in the College of Nursing's first Doctor of Nursing Practice(DNP) cohort in 2009. Along with her Family Nurse Practitioner/DNP degree in 2012, she obtained a nursing education certificate.Winton then returned to FSU in a faculty position.Winton promotes interprofessional education to encourage collaborative practice between the College of Nursing and the College of Medicine with a graduate global health class that includes a medical mission trip to Nicaragua.