Award Program
Sigma/DAISY Nurse Scientist Leadership Award
Recognizing a licensed registered nurse who has demonstrated excellence in research, compassionate care, and leadership.
About the Award
Sigma/DAISY Nurse Scientist Leadership Award
Nominations are open.
In collaboration with The DAISY Foundation, the Sigma/DAISY Nurse Scientist Leadership Award recognizes a licensed registered nurse who has demonstrated excellence in research, compassionate care, and leadership.
Recipients must be a licensed registered nurse in good standing with a minimum of five years in clinical practice and research.
Current Sigma Nursing Board of Directors, elected international committee members, staff, Sigma consultants and contracted staff, and members of the judging committee are not eligible to receive this award, serve as nominators, or write letters of support. Members of appointed committees may participate in the award process. Self-nominations will not be accepted.
The 2027 recipient will be recognized at Sigma Nursing's International Nursing Research Congress and will conduct a special session about their work.
Contact [email protected] with questions.
2026 Sigma/DAISY Nurse Scientist Leadership Award Recipient
Tonda L. Hughes, PhD, RN, FAAN
Henrik H. Bendixen Professor of International Nursing & Founding Executive Director of the Center for Sexual and Gender Minority Health Research
Columbia School of Nursing
New York, New York, USA
Dr. Tonda L. Hughes is a pioneering global health researcher and academic leader whose work has fundamentally advanced the science of sexual and gender minority health. Her research focuses on women’s mental health and substance use, with a particular emphasis on sexual minority women’s health—an area in which she is internationally recognized as a leading expert. She holds the Henrik H. Bendixen Professor of International Nursing endowed chair at Columbia University School of Nursing and is the founder and Director of the Center for Sexual and Gender Minority Health Research, the first center of its kind within U.S. nursing. She also holds an interdisciplinary appointment as Professor of Psychiatry in the Columbia University College of Medicine, reflecting the broad relevance of her scholarship to behavioral health and health equity.
Dr. Hughes is Professor Emerita at the University of Illinois Chicago and has held honorary or visiting professorships across the world, including in England (Oxford Brookes University), Australia (University of Melbourne, Deakin University, University of Technology Sydney), and Chile (Pontificia Universidad Católica), as well as visiting roles at U.S. institutions such as the University of Pennsylvania and Vanderbilt University.
Since 1999, Dr. Hughes' research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health. Her signature contribution is the Chicago Health and Life Experiences of Women (CHLEW) study—a landmark longitudinal cohort and the longest-running study of sexual minority women’s health. With more than 300 peer reviewed publications and extensive national and international presentations, she has generated foundational evidence on mental health, substance use, and health disparities among sexual minority women. Dr. Hughes has consulted with multiple U.S. federal agencies and advised researchers globally, including colleagues in Australia, Canada, Chile, India, New Zealand, Thailand, and in Europe and Africa.
