Sherry Adkins receives MD Anderson’s highest nursing honor

Sherry Adkins, a supervisor of advanced practice providers for Lymphoma/Myeloma-Research, is the recipient of the 2020 Brown Foundation Award for Excellence in Oncology Nursing at MD Anderson. The award, established by The Brown Foundation Inc. in 1982, is the institution’s highest nursing honor and includes a $15,000 cash prize.

Peter WT Pisters, M.D., president; Rosanna Morris, chief operating officer; Carol Porter, D.N.P., senior vice president and chief nursing officer; and Isabel Stude Lummis of The Brown Foundation joined in congratulating Adkins at a virtual award ceremony in November 2020. Finalists Ashley L. Martinez, D.N.P., a supervisor of advanced practice providers in Breast Medical Oncology, and Angela Yarbrough, D.N.P., a family nurse practitioner at The University of Texas MD Anderson Children’s Cancer Hospital, also were recognized. Thanks to the foundation’s generous addition of cash prizes for finalists, Martinez and Yarbrough each received $5,000.

Porter chaired the selection committee of MD Anderson clinical faculty, patient care administrators and nursing staff. She commended Adkins, Martinez and Yarbrough for their exemplary professionalism and thanked the Brown Foundation for supporting “our outstanding nurses for their daily dedication to MD Anderson’s mission to end cancer.”

Adkins, who joined the institution in 2008, was part of the research team whose work led to the first Food and Drug Administration-approved CAR T cell therapy for treating lymphoma. As a cancer survivor, she finds inspiration in caring for patients and being a part of their cancer journeys.

“Nurses are the heart, mind and soul of MD Anderson,” Adkins says. “Every day, I am given the opportunity to provide excellent, compassionate care to patients with cancer and to give back what was given to me.