The Academy is pleased to announce that Sandra Janashak Cadena, PhD, APRN, PMHCSN, CNE, has been selected to be a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (Academy). Dr. Cadena is Professor at the Universidad de Bosque, Colombia, South America, an alumni of Kent State University and the University of Florida (UofF) ,and an international consultant in community mental health. Induction into the Academy is a significant milestone in a nurse leader’s career in which their accomplishments are honored by their colleagues within and outside the profession. Fellows are selected based on their contributions and impact to advance the public’s health.
The Academy is an honorific society that recognizes nursing's most accomplished leaders in policy, research, practice, administration, and academia. Academy Fellows, from nearly 40 countries, hold a wide variety of influential roles in health care. Induction into the Fellowship represents more than recognition of one's accomplishments within the nursing profession. Fellows contribute their collective expertise to the Academy, engaging with health leaders nationally and globally to improve health and achieve health equity by impacting policy through nursing leadership, innovation, and science.
Dr. Sandra Janashak Cadena has worked as a psychiatric advanced practice psychiatric nurse practitioner and professor of nursing and public health for over 35 years. As her career and wisdom evolved, she earned a Master’s degree in Psychiatric/Mental Health nursing, worked at the Veterans Administration Hospital in partial hospitalizations programs and was the founding Director of the Homeless Mentally Ill Project. Dr. Cadena later established one of the first nurse practitioner run private practices in the United States. Dr. Cadena taught at several state and private universities since 1986. Her program of research focuses on international community mental health programs and domestic violence in vulnerable populations. She has completed three Fulbright programs in Central and South America, publishing over 20 articles and book chapters. Dr. Cadena’s variety of positions and experiences position her as a policy influencer in academia, teaching and as an administrator, founding Director of a Global Health Nursing program and Assistant Dean; a successful business owner and independent practice service provider in the community and prisons, as well as multiple leadership positions in Sigma Theta Tau, the American Psychiatric Nurses Association and the Florida Nurses Association.
“I am honored and humbled for this recognition of my peers and the legends of the Academy. It has been a life-long dream as I blend my national and international work with a multitude of vulnerable populations, including veterans, homeless persons, men and women in prisons, indigenous groups, and refugees, focusing on the mental health needs and opportunities in community mental health.”
Through a competitive, rigorous application process, the Academy’s Fellow Selection Committee reviewed a record number of applications, representing a 30% increase from the previous year, to select the 2022 Fellows. Sandra J. Cadena was one of 250 individuals selected to be inducted. The 2022 Fellows represent 35 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and 17 countries.
The 2022 inductees will be recognized for their significant contributions to health and health care at the Academy’s annual Health Policy Conference, taking place on October 27-29, 2022 in Washington, DC at the Marriott Marquis during the Induction Ceremony on the evening of October 29. Once the newest Fellows are inducted, the Academy will be comprised of more than 3,000 leaders who are experts in policy, research, administration, practice, and academia that champion health and wellness, locally and globally.
About the American Academy of Nursing
The American Academy of Nursing serves the public by advancing health policy and practice through the generation, synthesis, and dissemination of nursing knowledge. Academy Fellows are inducted into the organization for their extraordinary contributions to improve health locally and globally. With more than 2,900 Fellows, the Academy represents nursing’s most accomplished leaders in policy, research, administration, practice, and academia.