Assistant professor and BSN program co-director awarded Maryland Nurses Association’s Outstanding Pathfinder Award, 2025 Hospice and Palliative Nurses Foundation Emerging Leader Award.
The University of Maryland School of Nursing’s Hannah Murphy Buc, PhD, RN, assistant professor, Bachelor of Science in Nursing program co-director, and director of Restorative Justice, has been awarded the Maryland Nurses Association’s (MNA) Outstanding Pathfinder Award for her work in restorative justice. She also has been named one of 30 recipients of the 2025 Emerging Leader Award by the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Foundation (HPNF).
MNA’s Outstanding Pathfinder Award is presented to an MNA member who has demonstrated excellence and creative leadership that fosters the development of the nursing profession. Award recipients have been pioneers in nursing innovation or have developed creative approaches to further nursing’s agenda.
Murphy Buc was nominated for the Pathfinder Award by Veronica Gutchell, DNP ’13, RN, CNS, CRNP, assistant professor; chair of the Department of Partnerships, Professional Education, and Practice; and director of the Governor’s Wellmobile Program.
“This individual has devoted her nursing career to issues of health equity, diversity, and inclusion,” Gutchell wrote in her nomination. “Her nursing career has spanned working on social justice for those unhoused, experiencing poverty, as well as those in the prison justice system. In academia, as an expert in palliative care, she developed a palliative care nursing curriculum for vulnerable populations.”
Recipients of the 2025 Emerging Leader Award are exceptional hospice and palliative care nurses who represent the future of the field, having demonstrated remarkable leadership, innovation, and dedication early in their careers.
Joan Carpenter, PhD, CRNP, ACHPN, FPCN, assistant professor, nominated Murphy Buc for the prestigious honor, explaining the ways in which Murphy Buc has demonstrated significant leadership in palliative care nursing over the past five years.
“She completed her PhD in 2023, which focused on highlighting the experiences of people with serious illness experiencing homelessness — a population frequently underserved by hospice and palliative care agencies,” Carpenter wrote. “Her important research was supported by a competitive grant from the Maryland Higher Education Commission, enabling her to contribute this much needed research to the field.
“In January 2023, Murphy Buc helped launch a required undergraduate primary palliative care course at UMSON, shaping the curriculum, teaching the content, and advising students. She is now leading the faculty in the design and conduct of a longitudinal study examining the effectiveness of introducing palliative competencies early in nurses’ education.”