VITAS Innovative Hospice Care named Christine Bielecki, RN, Haddon Heights, N.J., its national Nurse of the Year.

Beth Brooks, RN, CHE, PhD, clinical assistant professor, University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing, assumed the executive director position at the school's Institute for Healthcare Innovation.

FIGURE. Bielecki

Marion E. Broome, RN, PhD, FAAN, Denise Korniewicz, RN, DNSc, FAAN, and Terri Mathew, RN, BSN, received 2004 Pinnacle Awards, in the Mentor category, from the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.

FIGURE. Brooks

Keri Hockett, RN, ARNP, became the first clinical nurse researcher at Sarasota Memorial Hospital, Sarasota, Fla.

Barbara J. Levin, RN, ONC, LNCC, BSN, Boston, Mass., is the 2004-2005 president of the American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants.

FIGURE. Hockett

The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses named Kathy McCauley, RN, PhD, FAAN, its new board president. Debbie Brinker, RN, MS, MSN, CCNS, CCRN, is president-elect. New board members are Debbie Buonocore, RN, APRN, BC, CCRN, Roberta Kaplow, RN, PhD, CCNS, CCRN, and Jodi Mullen, RN, C, MS, CCNS, CCRN. The board's new chair is Jan Foster, RN, CCRN, MSN, PhD. Judy Verger, RN, CCRN, CRNP, MSN, holds the chair-elect position.

Regent Medical named Carolyn Twomey, RN, BSN, its new director of clinical affairs. She'll oversee the company's expanded educational arm.

FIGURE. Twomey