Published on October 16, 2020

The 2020 Children’s HeartLink Founders Award goes to Sandra Staveski PhD, RN, CPNP-AC, from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). She will be honored at our virtual gala on October 23rd. Dr. Staveski has been a Children’s HeartLink medical volunteer for over 15 years.

This annual award was established in 2019 in honor of our founder Dr. Joe Kiser, to recognize individuals who demonstrate extraordinary dedication and contributions to the Children’s HeartLink mission.

Dr. Staveski is an assistant professor in the Department of Family Health Care Nursing at UCSF. She has over 30 years of clinical and teaching experience in cardiac critical care, and she has been a champion for nurse education around the world.

“Sandy’s contributions are many and her impact is enormous. We’re delighted to award the Founders Award to a nurse this year, which the World Health Organization has named The Year of the Nurse. Most recently Sandy led the planning, development and implementation of our Nurse Residency Program in India. But chief among her contributions is creating the Parent Education Discharge Instructions that gives thousands of parents the information and confidence they need to care for their child,” says Children’s HeartLink President Jackie Boucher.

“It is a great honor to receive this award,” says Dr. Staveski. “Children’s HeartLink is a beacon of hope for pediatric heart programs and the young patients they serve. No other organization anywhere in the world is doing so much to help children who are born with heart disease.”

The Parent Education Discharge Instructions help parents and other caregivers provide a safe transition from hospital to home care for children after heart surgery. These materials have been translated into 11 languages and also include a low-literacy version.

Children’s HeartLink works in five countries: Brazil, China, India, Malaysia and Vietnam. We focus on training in-country medical providers. The training is done in partnerships with top medical volunteer teams from the US, Canada and the UK. In 51 years, we have helped more than 1 million children. 

To support nurse education and training, learn about our Mary McMahon Busch Nurse Training Fund