Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research (FNINR) are honoring Yale School of Nursing (YSN) faculty member David Vlahov, PhD, RN, FAAN with the 2024 Ada Sue Hinshaw Award. This is the organization’s highest honor, bestowed on a researcher having, “a substantive and sustained program of science that would afford her/him recognition as a prominent senior scientist.”
The award is named for Ada Sue Hinshaw ’63 MSN, the first the first permanent leader at the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and recognized by the American Academy of Nursing as a Living Legend. The award ceremony took place at the NightinGala in Washington, D.C. on October 30.
“It is an honor to receive the Ada Sue Hinshaw Award, named for one of the pre-eminent trailblazers in the field of nursing research and a YSN alum,” Dr. Vlahov said. “It is incredible to me how nursing research has adapted and advanced throughout my career and working to launch and mentor the next generation of nurse researchers is one of the best parts of the job.”
Urban Health and Beyond
Dr. Vlahov’s primary areas of focus has been on urban health, infectious diseases, substance use and mental health. He led the ALIVE study in Baltimore that recruited and followed 3,000 persons who inject drugs to study the natural and then the treated history of HIV infection. Analyses from the study provided key information for HIV prevention and treatment. NIH previously recognized his work with a prestigious MERIT Award. His work was influential in providing empirical evidence that helped pass harm reduction legislation.
Dr. Vlahov’s studies in Baltimore, Harlem, and the Bronx have served as a platform for subsequent individual, community and policy level intervention studies and advocacy. He was the founding president of the International Society for Urban Health and is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Urban Health. His publications include more than 700 scholarly papers.