UK diabetes specialist nurse Margaret Shepherd has been awarded the Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award for her work in combatting genetic diabetes.
A lead nurse for research at the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust, the 60-year-old mother of three set up a national network of genetic diabetes nurses in the UK in 2002 to raise awareness of the little-known monogenic form of the condition.
This year’s competition saw a shortlist of 10 finalists, eight women and two men. Ms Shepherd beat the competition to win the $250,000 (Dh915,000) prize. The awards ceremony took place in London on International Nurses Day.
More than 52,000 nurses from 202 countries entered, including those working in the UAE, Kenya, Panama, Ireland, Singapore, UK, Philippines, India, Portugal and Tanzania.
The finalists included UAE-based Irish nurse Cathy Cribben-Pearse, who founded OakTree Mentoring, a programme for 200 nurses and midwives.
