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Deakin's Professor Andrea Driscoll acknowledged as nursing trailblazer
Media release
10 August 2026
Deakin Distinguished Professor Andrea Driscoll has been nationally recognised for her transformative leadership in nursing care with the 2026 Health Minister's Award for Nursing Trailblazers.
The award was announced by Minister for Health and Ageing, the Hon Mark Butler MP, at the National Nursing Forum Gala Dinner in Melbourne, acknowledging Professor Driscoll’s innovative approach to integrated nurse practitioner models of care for high-risk heart failure, reducing hospital readmissions and extending specialist care to rural and regional communities.
Deakin University Dean of School of Nursing and Midwifery Professor Nikki Phillips said she was delighted Professor Driscoll’s work had been nationally recognised with an award that celebrates nurses transforming healthcare through innovation, leadership and sustainability of nurse-led models.
Professor Driscoll holds an important translational leadership position,’ Professor Phillips said.
As an international expert in cardiovascular disease, her nurse-practitioner model has helped close gaps in continuity of care and specialist access, especially for people with complex, high-risk heart failure in rural and regional areas.
Deakin University Dean of School of Nursing and Midwifery
'It has reduced preventable hospital readmissions and emergency department presentations, improved uptake of guideline-directed therapies and generated significant cost savings.
‘This approach has been replicated across multiple hospitals nationally and has influenced health policy and clinical practice at state and national levels.’
Professor Driscoll is a member of the Australian College of Nursing. As jointly appointed Chair in Nursing at Monash Health, she leads the Centre for Quality and Patient Safety Strategic Research, Monash Health Partnership in collaboration with Deakin University.
She has received several prestigious national and international awards for her research and in recognition of her contributions to nursing through practice, research and education.
She was inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Honours Society International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame. In nursing, this international award acknowledges excellence and scholarship in nursing research over a lifetime.
During her time as a Board Director of the Victorian Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, she was instrumental in the development of nurse practitioners within Victoria and endorsed the first nurse practitioner in Victoria.
Professor Driscoll said she was thrilled to have her work nationally recognised as trailblazing.
‘It is an honour to receive this award and very humbling,’ Professor Driscoll said. ‘It is great to see nurse practitioner leadership acknowledged at this level, and it reinforces the vital role nurse practitioners play in driving system‑wide transformation. It reflects not only my work, but the dedication of the nurses, clinicians, executives and consumers who believed in these models and helped bring them to life.’