Dr. Deborah Reed receives prestigious Sarah Bennett Holmes Award
The College of Nursing's Dr. Deborah Reed was recently awarded the prestigious Sarah Bennet Holmes Award by the University of Kentucky Women's Forum for her contributions to issues that affect women at UK and across the Commonwealth. Each year, the award is presented to two female UK employees-- one faculty member and one staff member-- to recognize efforts that would otherwise go unnoticed through typical channels.
Dr. Reed was one of five nominees this year and joins a long list of other distinguished and highly-accomplished award recipients including fellow College of Nursing leaders Dr. Debra Moser and Dr. Kristin Ashford.
All of the nominees are usually recognized during the annual awards luncheon each March, but the event was canceled this year due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Deborah Reed received her BSN, MSN, MSPH, and PhD all from UK. She was named a UK Provost’s Distinguished Service Professor in 2011 in recognition of her service to the university and the Commonwealth, and she was appointed to the Good Samaritan Foundation Chair in Community Health Nursing in 2012.
In addition to her research and service in the College of Nursing, Dr. Reed works with the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment as an agricultural health nurse. Dr. Reed was the Founder of the UKCON Occupational Health Nurse PhD Training Program, funded by the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) as part of the Central Appalachian Educational Research Center. Her dissertation research on the occupational rehabilitation of farmers who have suffered an amputation was funded by a Nursing Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Reed's most recent research, Farm Dinner Theater, was designated as Edge Runner by the American Academy of Nursing in 2018.
Learn more about Dr. Reed's decades of research and see a complete list of her awards.
About Sarah Bennett Holmes
Sarah Bennett Holmes, a distinguished former Dean of Women at the University of Kentucky, tirelessly championed the rights of women throughout her career. Widowed at a young age, Holmes raised four children while completing her own education. She then began a successful career at UK where she inspired young women to persevere in the face of hardship and pursue their career goals. Among her accomplishments, Holmes developed work programs for women during the Depression.
In her honor, the UK Women's Forum created the Sarah Bennett Holmes Award. Since 1994, the annual Sarah Bennett Holmes Award has been bestowed upon female employees who have achieved professional and personal success while promoting the growth and well-being of all women at the University of Kentucky and beyond.
