Table of Contents
Hardwicke Named ‘Nurse You’d Want
to Care for Loved Ones’
Robin Hardwicke, Ph.D., assistant professor of internal medicine at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, has received a national award for her care of HIV- and AIDS-infected patients.
Robin Hardwicke, Ph.D., has been recognized for her care of
HIV/AIDS patients. Photo by Ester Fant
An advanced nurse practitioner, Hardwicke received the Joanne Ruiz Achievement Award for Excellence in Clinical Practice in HIV Care from the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (ANAC). The award was presented during the national ANAC meeting in Orlando, Fla.
The award is named in memory of Joanne Ruiz, one of the first nurses to become infected with HIV through occupational exposure. It is given to an outstanding nurse clinician who is a source of pride to patients, clients and colleagues, while bringing knowledge, skill and caring to people with HIV disease and their families. ANAC said the award goes to “the nurse you would most want to care for your loved ones.”
Hardwicke is associate medical director for St. Hope Foundation, where she provides care to HIV/AIDS-infected patients. Since 2000 she has focused on women, including pregnant women, and adolescents who are HIV-infected.
For the last two years, she has been on the faculty of the Texas/Oklahoma AIDS Education and Training Center (AETC) and was invited to help create an educational training video on the prevention of perinatal transmission. As continuing education, the video has been shown nationally on cable networks and is for sale through the TX/OK AETC. She also assisted with development of a PowerPoint presentation on the “HIV Perinatally Infected Adolescent” for the NY/NJ, TX/OK and FL/Caribbean AETCs.
Hardwicke serves as president of the Houston Gulf Coast Chapter of ANAC, which received the 2005 Chapter Recognition Award. She has been an active member since 2002.
She was elected director-at-large of the HIV/AIDS Nursing Certification Board for 2006-09. She also was a founder and past president of the Houston Area Nurse Practitioner/Physician Assistant HIV Forum.
Hardwicke earned her doctorate in nursing from Texas Woman’s University, her master’s degree from the UT Medical Branch at Galveston and her bachelor’s degree in nursing from UT Tyler.