University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing alumnus Darrell Owens, DNP, ARNP, is the 2019 recipient of the University of Washington (UW) Distinguished Staff Award.
The prestigious award is designed to honor a UW team member who provides extraordinary service beyond his or her basic job description and demonstrates UW values of integrity, diversity, excellence, collaboration, innovation and respect. The award also recognizes extraordinary accomplishments or superior, sustained efforts that contribute significantly to the mission of one or more units of UW as a whole.
Owens is the founder of Palliative Care Services at both Harborview Medical Center and Northwest Hospital & Medical Center in Seattle, Washington. In this role, he has provided palliative care to seriously ill patients and their families within the UW Medicine Health System for more than 15 years. He is a nationally recognized expert in the field of palliative care.
Owens is the first and only advanced practice nurse to have started two medical consult services within the UW Health System and is the first advanced practice nurse in Washington State to receive the Cambia Health Foundation Sojourn Award for Clinical Excellence and Leadership in Palliative Care.
In 2015, Owens received the Joanne Barnett Award for Compassionate Care from the Nursing Chapter of the UAB National Alumni Society.
Owens earned his Doctor of Nursing Practice from the UAB School of Nursing in 2010. During his time as a student, he conducted a capstone research project that was ultimately published in the Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. His study examined whether people served by his outpatient palliative care program had a reduction in emergency department visits.
“Out of all my education, earning my DNP was the most enjoyable experience. It definitely was not easy, but it was very much geared to my career,” he said.
To read more about Owens’ career in palliative care, click here.
