Meet the 2026 Awardee: Tammy L. Eaton, PhD, MSc, FNP-BC, RN, FCCM, FAAN, ATSF
Tammy L. Eaton, PhD, MSc, FNP-BC, RN, FCCM, FAAN, ATSF is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hospital Medicine at the University of Michigan and an Associate Investigator in the Center for Clinical Management Research at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System. She is also an implementation scientist with the VA QUERI-funded Center for Evaluation and Implementation Resources (CEIR).
As a health services researcher, Dr. Eaton leads nationally and internationally recognized efforts to improve recovery for survivors of critical illness and their families. Her program of research focuses on developing and implementing high-value, interdisciplinary care models and scalable practice-based innovations that improve outcomes after critical illness, including post–intensive care syndrome and long COVID. Her work advances learning health system approaches and collaborative models to redesign care for patients and families recovering from critical illness.
Dr. Eaton has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and has presented widely at national and international conferences. She serves as President of the Critical and Acute Illness Recovery Organization (CAIRO), an international collaborative spanning more than 50 healthcare systems across six countries dedicated to advancing research, education, and clinical innovation in critical illness recovery.
An active member of the American Thoracic Society since 2019, Dr. Eaton holds leadership and member roles within the Nursing Assembly, Critical Care Assembly, and ATS International Conference programming. She received the 2023 ATS Emerging Career Award from the Behavior Science and Health Services Research (BSHSR) Assembly and has been inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Critical.
Description
The award will be given to a Nursing Assembly member who has made outstanding contributions relevant to nursing in the area(s) of research, clinical care, teaching, and/or service. Additionally, this person shows commitment and support of the Nursing Assembly and ATS. The award recognizes individuals who have made valuable contributions focused on patient and family responses related to pulmonary conditions, critical illness, or sleep disorders early in his or her career. The awardee will be presented with a framed certificate at the annual Nursing Assembly meeting during the ATS International Conference. We encourage applications from nominees with diverse backgrounds (e.g. by gender, race/ethnicity, country, area of focus and primary occupation).
Criteria
- Registered Nurse
- Must be no more than Assistant Professor level, and either less than 10 years after earning a doctoral degree, or less than 10 years since initially becoming a full member of ATS, whichever is earliest.
- Member of the Nursing Assembly (preference is given to a primary member)
- Shows commitment and support of the Nursing Assembly, and to the ATS, including description of participation in ATS Nursing assembly or ATS activities
- Letter of nomination from a member of the Nursing Assembly documenting how the applicant meets the scoring criteria, on a scale from 1 to 5
- Teaching/mentoring contributions – evaluated by feedback on teaching and mentoring from current or past mentees. Those with examples of successful mentoring and teaching (e.g., student-led abstracts, papers, or other products) will be scored higher (5/5) than those with without these described products (1/5).
- Participation in assembly or ATS activities – evaluated by described participation in past ATS or Nursing assembly activities. Those with leadership roles, multiple activities or substantial impact to ATS through service roles will be scored higher (5/5) than those with few service activities and no leadership roles (1/5).
- Scientific/scholarly and clinical contributions – evaluated by impact of scientific work, such as number of publications and/or grants, quality of research and/or uptake of findings and/or impact to clinical practice. Those with substantial number of publications, external funding, and/or robust evidence of the impact of their scholarship on patients and the health care community will be scored higher (5/5) than those with fewer publications, no external grant funding or limited clinical impact of their work. Notably, scholarship or clinical contributions with a specific scientific focus on creating a diverse, inclusive and equitable healthcare system is preferred.
- Additional letters of support from peers, mentors, and colleagues may be submitted with the nomination but are not required.
- A CV from the candidate, not to exceed 4 pages, that addresses research, clinical care, teaching, and/or service.
- A copy of at least one publication, consisting of either a published abstract, dissertation abstract, or short summary of the capstone project if no published manuscript is available.