The Vanderbilt University School of Nursing received the 2025 Health Professions Higher Education Excellence and Distinction (HEED) Award from Insight Into Academia magazine and was also
named a 2025 HEED Champion. The award is a national honor recognizing U.S. health colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to academic excellence, belonging and community-building across all levels of campus life.
“The HEED award is a testament to VUSN’s dedication to building a strong and connected school culture,” said Pamela Jeffries, PhD, FAAN, ANEF, FSSH, dean and the Valere Potter Distinguished Professor of Nursing. “We take community-building very seriously, and being named a HEED Champion two years in a row affirms the value of our work.”
VUSN will be featured, along with 27 other recipients, in the October 2025 issue of Insight Into Academia magazine. This is the second year in a row that the School of Nursing has been named a HEED Champion, and the fifth year in a row it has received the HEED award.
“We take a detailed and somewhat holistic approach to reviewing each application in determining who will be named a Health Professions HEED Award recipient,” said Lenore Pearlstein, co-publisher of Insight into Academia magazine. “Our standards are high, and we look for institutions where academic excellence and belonging are woven into the work being done every day across their campus.”
For more information about the 2025 Health Professions HEED Award, visit insightintoacademia.com.