Pictured alongside Sarasota Memorial leaders are Team SMH‘s 2026 DNP graduates from the FSU College of Nursing. Front row: Nicole McClain, DNP, MBA, MSN, RN, MRCM; Jean Lucas, PhD, MBA, APRN, NEA-BC, FAAN, Chief Nursing Officer, Sarasota Memorial Health Care System; and Georgina Farrell, DNP, MSN, RN, CPHQ. Back row: David Verinder, President & CEO; Lisa Hinds, DNP, MSN, RN, CCRN; Susan Fallis, DNP, MSN, RN; Katie Williams, DNP, MSN, RN, NEA-BC; Rebecca Feeley, DNP, MSN, RN, CNOR; Katrin Diana, DNP, MSN, RN, CPHQ; Cindy Taylor, DNP, MSN, RN, CNML; and Lisa Baumgardner, DNP, APRN, CNS-BC, NEA-BC, Chief Nursing Officer, SMH-Sarasota.
August 10, 2026- Recently, SMH celebrated eight incredible team members, all women, who graduated with their Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degrees from Florida State University College of Nursing. The women supported one another through late nights, demanding coursework, full-time careers, family responsibilities and everything in between, demonstrating the supportive workplace that helped earn SMH the #1 spot on the list of Florida’s best employers of women.
About Sarasota Memorial Health Care System (www.smh.com)
Sarasota Memorial Health Care System is a regional medical center offering Southwest Florida’s greatest breadth and depth of care, with about 2,500 physicians and advanced practice providers, 11,000 employees and 2 million patient visits a year across its network of care. Sarasota County’s largest employer, the community-owned health system includes two full-service hospitals in Sarasota and Venice (and third under construction in North Port), freestanding ERs in North Port and Lakewood Ranch, a rehabilitation hospital, skilled nursing facility and comprehensive network of outpatient centers, urgent care clinics and SMH First Physicians Group primary and specialty care practices. Founded in 1925, SMH’s flagship Sarasota campus also is home to the Brian D. Jellison Cancer Institute, Cornell Behavioral Health Pavilion and Kolschowsky Research and Education Institute. Both Sarasota Memorial Hospital-Sarasota and Sarasota Memorial Hospital-Venice have earned the highest 5-Star quality ratings from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). SMH-Sarasota is the only Florida hospital – and one of just 11 in the nation – to earn a perfect 5-Star rating from CMS every year since the federal rating program began in 2016.