Nurse Awards

King County Nurses Association presents annual Shining Star Awards to nurses who demonstrate excellence in their areas of practice or contribute significantly to the nursing profession or within the community. Recipients must be a member of King County Nurses Association.

Congratulations to our 2024 Shining Star Nurse Award Winners! 

Nominations for our 2025 nurse awards are accepted anytime with a deadline of March 15, 2025. Awards will be presented in spring at the Annual Gala.

2024 Award Winners

We are pleased to honor the KCNA 2024 Shining Star Awards! Join us in celebrating these exceptional nurses who have made considerable contributions to the King County nursing community:

Alison Bradywood, DNP, MPH, RN, NEA-BC

Alison Bradywood, DNP, MPH, RN, NEA-BC is an experienced executive leader focused on nursing practice and quality improvement. She has served as the Executive Director for the Washington State Board of Nursing (WABON) since May 2023. Before joining WABON, she was faculty at the UW, School of Nursing, and worked as a healthcare consultant. Her experience spans acute care, ambulatory practice, long-term care and community health settings including 19 years at Virginia Mason. Alison received her DNP from Vanderbilt University and her Masters’ in Public Health and in Nursing Leadership from the UW. In just one year’s time at WABON, Alison has made a lasting impact on the profession of nursing, bringing multi-state licensing and impacting legislation to help nurses. 

Alison’s areas of expertise include system improvement, quality and regulatory compliance, leadership development, health equity initiatives, patient experience, nursing practice, education and workforce development. She has published several peer-reviewed articles on hospital quality including multidisciplinary care pathways, the relationship between nurse staffing and patient outcomes, impacts of screening for social determinants of health and COVID-19 interventions.

Alison previously served as co-chair of the Washington Nurses Action Coalition, collaborating with various community organizations to tackle social determinants of health and healthcare inequity. Currently, she dedicates her time to volunteering overseas, aiding non-industrialized nations in enhancing their healthcare delivery systems.  

Currently Alison serves as a board member for KCNA, where she is dedicated to promoting the interests and professional development of nurses in the region.

We are honored to present Alison Bradywood with a 2024 Shining Star Award. Congratulations!

Kumhee Ro, DNP, APRN, FAANP, FAAN

Kumhee Ro, DNP, APRN, FAANP, FAAN is a trail blazer and innovative thinker, bringing a plan for incorporating diversity to all areas, even when met with resistance. As Assistant Professor of Nursing at Seattle University College of Nursing, she has shown students how to achieve greatness in their clinical practice while also addressing the need for diversity and inclusion in their clinical sites.

Ro is both an immigrant and first-generation college graduate. Over her career as a healthcare practitioner, she not only provided direct patient care, but also created partnerships to implement innovative models to positively impact vulnerable populations’ health outcomes. 

She collaborates with state and government agencies, nonprofit health systems and community stakeholders to pinpoint critical needs, enhancing programs and wrap-around services. Kumhee is a reserved woman whose voice resonates deeply for equity and workforce reform, especially in this era of heightened calls for social justice.

Ro currently serves on the advisory committee to the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality, guiding primary care research development for the US Department of Health and Human Services.

We are proud to honor Kumhee with the 2024 KCNA Shining Star Award.  Congratulations Kumhee on this well-deserved award.