The Courageous Provider Award annually recognizes a clinician or clinicians providing exceptional family-centered care in circumstances of serious childhood illness. Nominees must demonstrate excellence in engaging with patients, parents or other caregivers, and/or other pediatric specialists in a holistic, multidisciplinary approach to care. They must demonstrate qualities of compassion, tenacity and empathy in journeying with children and their families. Award recipients may be physicians, nurses, advanced practice providers, social workers, therapists or others.
2026 Nominations are Now Open
NOMINATION GUIDELINES
Please complete this form, including all the information requested and your letters of support, in one packet. Submit your nomination on or before Friday, January 30, 2026, at 5 pm ET. Note that your nomination will be considered complete at the time of submission. No supplementary material will be accepted after your nomination packet has been received.
The form asks:
Name of the person you are nominating (nominee)
Nominee’s title
Nominee’s workplace
Your name (nominator)
Your contact information (email address and telephone number)
Your relationship to the nominee (for example: patient family, colleague, employer, supervisor)
Is the nominee aware of this nomination? Y N Don’t Know
REQUIRED: Thoughts on your nominee’s qualities in addressing four topics: Exceptional family-centered care; Compassion and empathy; Ability to provide guidance and support; Collaboration with other pediatric specialists.
REQUIRED: 1-3 (minimum one, maximum three) additional letters of support for your nomination. Support letters may be from other clinicians, patient family members, or anyone else who would be able to reflect on the nomination.
REVIEW AND NOTIFICATION
All nominations will be reviewed by a committee appointed by the Courageous Parents Network Executive Director. Members may include prior Award recipients, other clinicians, and Courageous Parents Network team member(s).
All nominations will be kept confidential.
The final determination will be made on or about March 15, 2026. Courageous Parents Network will work with the nominator to determine how to notify the Award recipient. The results will be announced publicly in April and the Award ceremony held in late 2026.
Camara van Breemen, MN, NP
Nurse Practitioner and Director, Community Care and Provincial Outreach, Canuck Place Children’s Hospice, Vancouver, Canada
Camara van Breemen’s colleague nominators say that “she embodies the complete range of attributes that describe excellent pediatric palliative care: compassionate clinical care, committed and creative program leadership, and teaching others both locally and internationally in order to improve the lives of children and their families.” A parent who received her care and guidance adds that Camara van Breemen “has been an influential teacher, guide and clinician in my life. She has the gift of being both a strong and potent advocate, while also being visibly touched by the families she works with.”
Prior Award Recipients
Courageous Provider Award
Camara Van Breeman, MN, NP Canuck Place Children’s Hospice
2024
Ilene Beal Courageous Provider Award
Carol May, RN, MSN, MBA, CHPPN, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
Margaret Stewart Lindsay Courageous Provider Award
Zeena Audi-Saba, MD, Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital, NYU Langone Health
2023
Ilene Beal Courageous Provider Award
Frances T. McCarthy, MS, RNC-NIC, Columbia University Irving Medical Center/ New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, New York, NY
Kenneth Pituch, MD, Michigan Partners for Children | C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, Ann Arbor, MI
Margaret Stewart Lindsay Courageous Provider Award
Marjorie Curran, MD, MassGeneral Hospital for Children, Boston, MA
Daniel Le, Therapeutic Musician, Coastal Kids Home Care, Salinas, CA
2022
Ilene Beal Courageous Provider Award
Erin Flanagan, MD, Advocate Children’s Hospital, Park Ridge, IL
Sara Perszyk, RN, BSN, CHPN, Empath Children’s Health, Clearwater, FL
Margaret Stewart Lindsay Courageous Provider Award
Anne Anderson, RN, CHPPN, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Seattle, WA
David Sine, MD, Hinds Hospice, Hoffman Hospice, Kaweah Delta Hospice, CA
2021
Ilene Beal Courageous Provider Award
Hanna Epstein, DNP, CPNP, Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital, Charleston, SC
Carly D. Levy, MD, Nemours/AI duPont Hospital for Children, Wilmington, DE
Margaret Stewart Lindsay Courageous Provider Award
Monica Holland, PNP-BC, MSN, CHPPN, Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, Portland, OR
2020
Ilene Beal Courageous Provider Award
Kim Juanico, RN, BSN, CHPPN, Holtz Children’s Hospital, Miami, FL
2019
Patricia J.(Pat) O’Malley, MD, MassGeneral Hospital for Children