2024 Award Winners

Marsha A. Prater, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FACHE

Chief Nursing Officer Emeritus, Memorial Health, Springfield, IL

Marsha Prater, PhD, MSEd, RN, NEA-BC, FACHE, is Chief Nursing Officer Emeritus of Memorial Health (MH) in Springfield, IL. Before her retirement in October 2023, she served as Chief Nursing Officer for Springfield Memorial Hospital for 16 years, transitioning to System CNO of the five-hospital system for an additional 15 years. During her tenure, she built a strong foundation for leadership and clinical practice, helping to guide MH to achieve its mission to improve lives and build stronger communities through better health. She established a vision of “One Memorial Nursing” and a system-wide MH Nursing Strategic Plan to create a unifying, shared sense of purpose for nursing colleagues across 70+ care sites focused on delivering exceptional patient, family and community-centered care. This foundation resulted in the achievement of consecutive Magnet® and Pathways® designations from the American Nurses Credentialing Center for multiple MH hospitals.

Throughout her career, Dr. Prater has been a powerful advocate for nursing professional development and advancement, leading the enculturation of multiple programs to support clinical and leadership growth among future and current registered nurses. She established a “summer camp” to introduce high school students to the nursing profession and a student nurse internship to facilitate a smooth transition into professional nursing careers. She launched an evidence-based nurse residency program for new graduate nurses; a clinical advancement program that recognizes the progression of nursing competencies and behaviors; a certification reimbursement and support structure to eliminate barriers for clinical nurses to achieve national specialty certifications; and innovative nurse mentoring and nursing leadership internship programs.

Dr. Prater is deeply committed to improving care and access for patients and communities in Central Illinois, leading her to spearhead the growth of pre-licensure nursing programs to help address today’s critical workforce shortage. In 2014, she led Memorial’s collaboration with the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and the University of Illinois-Springfield to initiate a new UIC Springfield regional campus, creating 64 additional enrollment opportunities for future nurses in the Springfield area. Between 2019-2023, four additional MH academic partnerships expanded nursing student enrollment at the new Springfield campus of Illinois State University, Lincoln Land Community College, Richland Community College and Illinois College. In total, these academic partnerships have resulted in a 300+ nursing enrollment annual increase in the 10-county region served by Memorial.

Since retirement, Dr. Prater has facilitated development of the MH Career Development Model, a framework for fostering current colleague and early student interest in healthcare. She is leading Memorial’s collaboration with the Springfield District 186 Public Schools to introduce 13,000 K-12 students to healthcare occupations and continues to facilitate Memorial’s regional academic-service nursing partnership steering committees. She also works closely with the Illinois Hospital and Healthcare Association, advocating for public policy impacting health care and nursing.

Dr. Prater is a member of multiple national and statewide professional organizations. She served a ten-year term on the Illinois Nursing Workforce Center, is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and holds ANCC certification as an Advanced Nurse Executive. She holds a BSN from Illinois Wesleyan University, having been recognized with a Distinguished Alumni Award in 1993, and earned her Master’s degree and PhD from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.

Elizabeth Vaclavik, DNP, RN, OCN, NEA-BC

Associate Chief Nurse Executive, Ambulatory Services, Cook County Health

Elizabeth Vaclavik, DNP, RN, OCN, NEA-BC, is the Associate Chief Nurse Executive for Ambulatory Services at Cook County Health. Dr. Vaclavik leads teams of nurses spanning throughout Cook County and was key in the development of the New Arrival Clinic for asylum seekers coming into Chicago. She created the structure for the program that has been in place since 2022 and has served over 110,000 patients.

Dr. Vaclavik advocates for equity and inclusion within diverse populations of both staff and patients, supporting efforts through collaboration with providers, such as the fight against opioid addiction in the community through the education and distribution of naloxone inhalation kits. Dr. Vaclavik was the recipient of the Recine Foundation Grant for Research in 2015, and the Susan G. Komen Grant for education on Breast Cancer in 2007. She received an honorable mention at the Rush Research Symposium in 2017 for the topic, “Using Mindfulness to Alleviate Moral Distress”.

Dr. Vaclavik has served as interim Chief Nurse Executive over the third largest public health system in the nation, including correctional health and the Cook County Department of Public Health. She currently serves as mentor to DNP students. She is a dyad leader for HEDIS Measures in the ambulatory setting, increasing the role of the RN as a leader in primary care and improving metrics on hypertension, hemoglobin A1C and breast and cervical cancer screening. Prior to her role as Associate Chief Nurse Executive, Dr. Vaclavik held the titles of director, manager and educator. She has served as an instructor for St. Xavier University’s BSN completion program.

Dr. Vaclavik is a Johnson and Johnson Nursing Innovation Fellow and an active member of the American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International and the American Organization for Nursing Leadership. She has authored two publications. Her first publication entitled “A Mindful Approach to Manage Moral Distress among Oncology Nurses” was developed into a CE program.

In 2024, Dr. Vaclavik presented “Healthcare for Asylum Seekers” at the American Organization for Nursing Leadership conference and at the Illinois Primary Care Association. She also spoke at the Sigma Theta Tau International Conference.

Dr. Vaclavik is committed to diversity and inclusion of nursing staff in an ever-changing healthcare environment.

Monique Reed, PhD, RN, FAAN

Independence Foundation Professor of Nursing Education, Rush University Medical Center, ANA-Illinois Vice President

As a child Monique Reed, PhD, MS, RN, FAAN, lived in the medical center apartments across the street from Cook County Hospital where her mother worked as a nurse. Her mother immigrated from Jamaica to Chicago to work at the hospital as a first-generation college student in pursuit of a career as a nurse, and later as a certified nurse midwife.

As a youth they moved to the Austin and Grand Crossing communities on Chicago’s West and South Sides, and she attended Chicago Public Schools. During her commute to and from school, Reed began to realize the impact of community disinvestment on health which sparked her interest in health equity work. Dr. Reed’s nursing career began in telemetry and home health nursing. She saw the need for preventive services and furthered her education by focusing her doctoral studies on addressing racial health disparities.

The long-term goal of Dr. Reed’s program of research is to identify behavioral interventions to reduce the high rates of obesity in African American adolescent females. Her research is focused on a race conscious framework to increasing physical activity and improving nutritional intake in African American adolescent females and their mothers. She collaborates with students and experts in the disciplines of nursing science, physical activity, nutrition, and psychology as well as key community informants. Her research is informed by years of work with community-based programs serving the needs of the underserved in the Chicagoland area.

Reed (she/her) was past Assistant Dean of Generalist Education (2019-2023), served as American Nurses Association-Illinois Vice-President (2020-2024) and Principal Investigator of Black Girls Move (2022-2025).

Amanda Oliver, BSN, RN, CCRN, CPST

Registered Nurse Clinician II- Surgical Trauma Intensive Care, Advocate Christ Medical Center

Amanda Oliver, BSN, RN, CCRN, CPST, currently practices as a Registered Nurse Clinician II in the Surgical Trauma Intensive Care Unit at Advocate Christ Medical Center. She previously practiced as the Trauma Injury Prevention and Community Education Coordinator at Loyola University Medical Center from 2022-2023.

In 2023, Amanda was awarded the Loyola University Medical Center Nursing Community Excellence Award and was named as a Pinnacle Nurse Leader for her work in this role.

Amanda has a long history of board service. Currently, she serves as Secretary of the American Nurses Association (ANA), President of the Illinois Nurses Foundation (INF), and serves on the Illinois Nursing Workforce Center Advisory Board. In her past service, Oliver served as ANA Director-at-Large, Staff Nurse and Director-at-Large, Recent Graduate. Additionally, she has served on the ANA-Illinois board of directors, and as both the first vice president and the elected executive consultant of the Student Nurses Association of Illinois (SNAI). She continues to work with SNAI as a special consultant to develop future nurse leaders. Her additional accolades include top five finalist for the Illinois Nurses Foundation Nurse of the Year, Illinois Nurses Foundation “40 under 40” Emerging Nurse Leader and a Pinnacle Nurse Leader in 2017 for her outstanding contributions to nursing.

Amanda leverages her passion for public policy and advocacy by speaking to nurses and nursing students across the country about the importance of nurses’ participation in advocacy. Amanda earned her BSN degree from the University of St. Francis, Joliet in 2015 and is currently enrolled at Loyola University Chicago Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing pursuing her MSN.