We are proud to recognize Jessi Evans Kendall, BSN, RN, who received a Top Nurses 2022 Leadership Award from Madison Magazine for her work in and beyond UW Health.
Jessi is a community-engaged bedside nurse and collaborative leader with a passion for improving equity in healthcare. As an Outreach and Engagement Liaison with the Gilmore-Bykovskyi Lab’s Brain Health Equity Initiative, she works to ensure equitable access and agency in dementia care, education and research. She also serves as a Health Ambassador for the Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness and a Diversity and Cultural Congruence Resource Nurse at UW Health. Jessi continues to work at the bedside as well, specializing in Oncology, Hematology, Bone Marrow Transplant and Palliative Care. She also serves as the inaugural co-chair of the Black/African American Employee Resource Group at UW Health.
She’s passionate about advancing diversity in nursing through mentoring and recruitment, improving care for diverse populations, and dismantling racism and eliminating the long-standing health disparities that continue to impact the Black community.
“Barriers to full participation in your own health are barriers to high-quality care,” she says. “Diversity in the nursing workforce is not a nice-to-have. It’s directly related to quality care.”