The Courageous Provider Award annually recognizes 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.
The 2025 nominees were an exceptional and diverse cohort representing a wide range of palliative care disciplines, from music therapist to physician to social worker to advanced practice provider—and more. From this group Courageous Parents Network is pleased to announce that the 2025 Award recipient is:
Camara van Breemen, MN, NP
Nurse Practitioner and Director, Community Care and Provincial Outreach, Canuck Place Children’s Hospice, Vancouver, Canada
Congratulations Camara! 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.”
The nomination process for the 2026 Courageous Provider Award will be announced in the Fall of 2025.
Prior Award Recipients
2024
Carol May, RN, MSN, MBA, CHPPN, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
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