Janie Heath, associate dean for academic affairs at the Medical College of Georgia School of Nursing in Augusta, has been named a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.

The academy is composed of the nation's top nursing executives, policy-makers, scholars, researchers and practitioners. Fellows are selected based on their contributions to nursing and health care.

Heath is a nurse practitioner with more than 30 years of experience. Prior to joining MCG last year, she was an assistant professor and director of the acute care nurse practitioner program and the acute and critical care clinical nurse specialist program at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. She also was the director of the Georgetown University Medical Center's tobacco cessation program and was the hospital's clinical outcomes consultant for the medical intensive care unit.

NURSING AWARDS: The Kenneth E. Thomas Center for Nursing Excellence at St. Joseph's Hospital in Atlanta has announced its 2007 nursing award winners. They are Mary Strulowitz, RN (Weinberg Award); Lynn Ann Delisle, RN (Kenneth E. Thomas Award); Marianne Pera, RN (Franklin Award); Debbie Camp, RN, Lisa Kiblinger, RN, and Karen Robinson, RN (Wings Award); Jo Ann Armstrong, RN, Lynda Byrd, RN, and Colleen Potts, RN (McGahan Award); Alyson Hidding, RN, and Marie Ledford, RN (Mogelnicki Award); Bobbie Geiger, RN (Sanders Award); and Betsy Brakovich, RN (Leadership Award).

NEW DIRECTOR: Linda Wildey, RN, MSN, has been named administrative director of women's health at MCG Health Inc. in Augusta. She will be responsible for the daily operations and development of the women's health center.

Wildey, who comes from children's services at SwedishAmerican Health System in Rockford, Ill., has 30 years of experience in health care and health care administration.

STRIKING GOLD: In 2005, Grady Memorial Hospital became the first safety-net hospital in the United States to be certified as a primary stroke center by the Joint Commission of Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. Grady's multispecialty team approach in diagnosing and treating strokes recently earned recertification after the Joint Commission's two-year inspection.

STEM CELL COLLECTION: DeKalb Medical in Decatur has become the first hospital in metro Atlanta to collect stem cell donations from the umbilical-cord blood of new mothers. The donations will be used to help treat patients with sickle cell anemia, leukemia and other blood diseases.

Maternity patients at DeKalb Medical can donate their umbilical-cord blood for free. The cord blood is shipped to the StemCyte International Cord Blood Center in Arcadia, Calif., where stem cells are harvested and used to treat patients.

The stem cells will be registered with the National Marrow Donor Program and will be available to patients worldwide.

— Do you have any news briefs for Pulse? If so, send an e-mail to pulseeditor@ajc.com.