The Living Legend Award is the highest honor of the American Academy of Nursing. Awarded to outstanding visionaries who have used innovation, science and leadership to advance nursing.
2022 Living Legends winners include passionate nurse leader Norma Martinez Rogers, Ph.D., RN, FAAN. This brilliant nurse, also a college student, has overcome her social and financial difficulties to leave her mark on her profession. This fall, Martinez Rogers was one of her six extraordinary nurses who were named Living Legends for her contributions to nursing practice, research, teaching, and policy.
“I am humbled to receive this prestigious award. It brings tears to my eyes every time I think about how blessed I am to be able to accomplish so much. I know that it is through the grace of a higher power that I have been able to accomplish everything. I am grateful to them for teaching me the responsibility of helping others.This is not something I did alone, but to the people who helped me on my journey. Thank you from the bottom of my heart,” said Martinez Rogers.
The life of Norma Martinez Rogers
Norma Martinez Rogers experienced social inequality early on. She spent her youth at one of her first U.S. housing projects, the Arazan Apache in San Antonio, Texas, her court.
Martinez Rogers, the youngest of four, remembers standing in long lines for food with his mother. Her father worked her three jobs to support children attending Catholic schools. She primarily spoke Spanish until her junior year. This is because the nuns who run the Catholic school she attended required her students to speak English.
In elementary school, her father moved the family out of the project to another economically difficult Latino and black community.In an interview with AL DÍA, she recalled:
Martinez Rogers was a quiet student and always loved school. When she was in sixth grade, there was her bus strike. So Martinez Rogers chose to stay at home without her sisters, she walked eight miles to school.
With the support of her parents, she was the first in her family to attend college. To pay for her school fees last year, they took out a loan on her house. Martinez Rogers graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing from the Catholic College of Saint Antonio and a Master’s degree in Counseling from the University of Saint Mary.
A year after graduating from college, she married an Army Lieutenant who had a doctorate in physics from the University of Texas. Sadly, he was killed in action in the Vietnam War, leaving Martinez Rogers a widow to raise her two adopted children.
Around this time, she returned to school. She graduated from the University of Texas Health Science Center with a Master of Science in Psychiatric Nursing, and she has taught at the University of San Antonio.
There she met Dr. Janie Menchaka Wilson, one of the founding members of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses, who encouraged her to pursue a doctorate.
Martinez Rogers biography
Martinez Rogers worked as a public health nurse in Austin and was a Nursing Director at various psychiatric facilities. However, she has devoted most of her career to advocacy and serving her community.
In 1995 Rogers Martinez received his Ph.D. Cultural Foundation – a combination of education, sociology, politics and anthropology. She took a teaching position at the University of Texas Health Science Center School of Nursing. And she didn’t stop there. Rogers Martinez completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Indiana University in Bloomington.
As a first-generation Hispanic college graduate, she found Latinos underrepresented in higher education. “I got my bachelor’s degree from Incarnate Word College, and at the time she was the only three Latinos. I was the only Latina on stage,” said Martinez Rogers.
In the school’s 60-plus year history, Martinez Rogers was the first full-time Latina professor.
She has dedicated her career to advocating for underserved communities and encouraging minorities, particularly Latinos, in nursing. She founded Juntos Podemos (Together We Can), a mentoring program for disadvantaged nursing students, increasing retention and graduation rates among first-generation Hispanic college students. Martinez Rogers said, “It’s tough because many first-generation Latinos are facing financial hardships, which makes her final two years difficult.” rice field.
She also co-founded the Martinez Street Women’s Center to improve access to care for female minorities. A dedicated mentor and advocate for Latinos in nursing, she founded and served as President of the International Association of Latino Nurses. Her desire to help others inspired many. Martinez Rogers told her students, “In order to receive, you must first give.”
On social media, Martinez Rogers is honored for her achievements also recognized as #nurse of the weekMartinez Rogers has held countless local, national and international leadership roles, including:
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Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (Commissioner)
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Movilizandonos per Nuestro Future (Steering Committee), Minority Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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Medical Research and Quality Agency (Steering Committee)
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Union of Health and Environmental Nurses (Steering Committee)
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Congressional Hispanic Caucus (Member)
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Commission on Prison Population and Mental Health Issues (Member)
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National Hispanic Nurses Association (President, San Antonio Chapter)
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William F. Connell School of Nursing, Boston University (Visiting Professor)
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Pfizer Inc. (advisory board member)
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Diversity Advisory Board (Member)
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Gannett Healthcare Group (advisory board member)
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American Hospital Association Committee on Eliminating Health Disparities (Trustee)
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National Federation of Ethnic Minority Nurses (Director)
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Hispanic Health Care International (reviewer)
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National Institutes of Health/Child and Family Research, Building Sustainable Community-Linked Infrastructure to Enable Health Sciences (external reviewer)
Living Legend Award
Since its inception in 1994, the American Academy of Nursing’s Living Legend Awards have recognized 82 nursing professionals. It recognizes those who have impacted healthcare for their outstanding contributions to nursing practice, research, and education.
Martinez Roger is the second Latina to win the Living Legend Award.
Sonya Renae Hardin, Ph.D., MBA/MHA, APRN, FAAN, Dean of UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing, said: Dr. Martinez Rogers’ career speaks for itself and has played a key role in promoting diversity and inclusion in nursing education and patient care. “
Eileen T. Breslin, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, former Dean of UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing, added: Martínez Rogers’ journey is filled with examples that demonstrate her unwavering advocacy for diversity and inclusion in higher education and health care…. It reflects her journey of teaching to accept gender and the uniqueness of others. Given the evidence of her life’s work, we believe she deserves recognition as a living legend of the American Academy of Nursing. “
Other winners
Five other extraordinary leaders were honored at the 2022 Living Legends Ceremony held at the Annual Health Policy Conference in Washington.
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William L. Holzemer, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, is recognized for his tremendous contributions and advances in the care and research of HIV/AIDS, transforming the quality of life of individuals with this disease.
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Jane Barnsteiner, Ph.D., RN, FAAN was recognized for her dedication to improving the quality and safety of healthcare, particularly through the establishment of Quality and Safety Education (QSEN) for Nurses.
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Janet Ives Erickson (DNP, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN) was recognized for her extensive career in improving health outcomes, teaching nurse leaders, and advocating for patients. Dr. Ives Erickson is Interim CEO and President of Nantucket Cottage Hospital, Chief Nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and Lecturer at Harvard Medical School. She also established a field hospital at the Boston Convention Center early in the COVID-19 pandemic to help homeless patients.
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Joyce Newman Giger, EdD, APRN-BC, FAAN raises awareness of the unique health factors and outcomes that affect patients of color, explores social determinants of health, and promotes health equity and was honored for her profound impact and pioneering efforts to end racism. Nurse. She is the first African-American nurse appointed as a tenured professor at UCLA’s School of Nursing.
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Franklin A. Shaffer, EdD, RN, FAAN, FFNM RCSI was recognized for his global efforts to transform the nursing workforce. Dr. Shaffer is President and Chief Executive Officer of CGFNS International, Inc. (CGFNS, formerly known as the Board of Foreign Nursing School Graduates). CGFNS is the world’s leading standard-setting and credentialing organization for nursing and allied health professionals.
To be recognized as a living legend, a candidate must be nominated by three individuals, be a Fellow in good standing at AAN for at least 15 years, and demonstrate exceptional, diverse, and sustained achievement in the nursing profession. should show
