2026 UM Shore Regional Health Nurse Excellence Award winners with Chief Nursing Officer and Senior Vice President of Patient Care Services Danielle Wilson, are shown (l. to r.): Haley Setter, Abigail Smith, Alexandra Cavey, Megan Robertson, Brianna Chester, Danielle Wilson, Yassine Zidour and Angela Lord (NEA Winners 2026)
Brianna Chester, UM Shore Regional Health 2026 Nurse of the Year (center) is shown with Amie Hoffmann, Director, UM Shore Medical Group – Behavioral Health who presented the award (left) and Danielle Wilson, Chief Nursing Officer and Senior Vice President of Patient Care Services.
EASTON, Md. (May 13, 2026) – Brianna Chester, BSN, RN was honored as the University of Maryland Shore Regional Health (UM SRH) 2026 Nurse of the Year at the organization’s annual Nurse Excellence Awards Ceremony, held May 6 at the Tidewater Inn in Easton. UM SRH is a member organization of the University Maryland Medical System.
Chester, a Behavioral Health nurse at UM Shore Medical Center at Easton, was chosen by an independent panel of judges from over 100 nominations submitted by UM SRH team members. The annual award recognizes nursing excellence achieved through leadership, professionalism, commitment to others and commitment to patient experience.
Also selected as award winners in specific categories of nursing excellence were:
Collaboration and Teamwork – Haley Setter, RN, C-EFM, The Birthing Center, UM Shore Medical Center at Easton
Nursing Practice & Professionalism - Yassine Zidour, RN, CCRN, Intensive Care Unit, UM Shore Medical Center at Easton
Art of Caring and Relationship-Based Care - Abigail Smith, BSN, RN, CEN, Emergency Department, UM Shore Medical Center at Easton
Promising Professional - Megan Robertson, RN, Telemetry, UM Shore Medical Center at Easton
DAISY® Award for Nurse Leaders - Angela Lord, BSN, RN, NE-BC, Cardiac Catheterization Lab, UM Shore Medical Center at Easton
DAISY® Award for Nurse Educators - Alexandra Cavey, RN, BSN, CCRN, Intensive Care Unit, UM Shore Medical Center at Easton
“I am truly honored to recognize this year’s Nurse Excellence Award nominees and recipients,” said Danielle Wilson, BSN, RN, NE-BC, Chief Nursing Officer and Senior Vice President, Patient Care Services. “Their dedication, compassion, and clinical expertise reflect the very best of Shore Regional Health. Each of these outstanding nurses plays a vital role in delivering exceptional care every day.”
About University of Maryland Shore Regional Health
A member organization of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), University of Maryland Shore Regional Health (UM SRH) is the principal provider of comprehensive health care services for more than 170,000 residents of five counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore: Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot. UM SRH consists of approximately 2,000 team members, including more than 600 health care providers on the Medical Staff, who work with community partners to advance the values that are foundational to our mission: Compassion, Discovery, Excellence, Diversity and Integrity. For more information, visit https://www.umms.org/shore.
About the University of Maryland Medical System
The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) is an academic private health system, focused on delivering compassionate, high-quality care and putting discovery and innovation into practice at the bedside. Partnering with the University of Maryland School of Medicine and University of Maryland, Baltimore who educate the state’s future health care professionals, UMMS is an integrated network of care, delivering 25 percent of all hospital care in urban, suburban and rural communities across the state of Maryland. UMMS puts academic medicine within reach through primary and specialty care delivered at 11 hospitals, including the flagship University of Maryland Medical Center, the System’s anchor institution in downtown Baltimore, as well as through a network of University of Maryland Urgent Care centers and more than 150 other locations in 13 counties. For more information, visit www.umms.org.
