Sheila Allen has been a perioperative nurse for over 50 years.  Allen has been a member of AORN since 1969.  She served AORN in many leadership roles including being elected national President, 2001-2002. She has spoken and been published on perioperative clinical nursing topics, leadership, and mentoring for local to international audiences.   She served as Secretary for the International Federation of Perioperative Nurses [IFPN] 2001-2007.

Allen believes that our obligation as nurses and as perioperative nurses is to share our expertise – to “pay it forward”, to the communities in which we live and to our profession. Allen has accomplished this by writing, speaking, and serving as a mentor for new nurses and AORN colleagues. By sharing her experiences and knowledge, she has helped to develop perioperative nurses as clinicians, facility managers and as AORN leaders. Allen feels that the most rewarding part of having mentored others is by developing perioperative nurses to be the best they can be in their roles. Allen’s greatest legacy is in the AORN members she has mentored into leadership roles keeping AORN a top nursing organization.

She states, “Winning this inaugural award for mentoring AORN leaders is both humbling and an amazing honor.”