Advanced Practice Provider of the Year Award

The Advanced Practice Provider of the Year award is given to an individual who demonstrates leadership by serving as a role-model and mentor to his or her peers. This person shows initiative and promotes positive change in the nurse practice environment. Advanced Practice Provider of the Year winners demonstrate excellence in their day-to-day work while embodying the values of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Honorees actively advocate for the care of patients and their families and contribute to improved patient outcomes through a commitment to delivering high-quality care.

Gina Sabbatini is 2023 Advanced Practice Provider of the Year

Gina Sabbatini, MSPAS, PA-C, AAHIVS, came to St Jude a few years ago as an experienced provider who worked with HIV positive patients at her previous employer. She is the embodiment of striving to achieve maximum scope of practice, continuing education, and advocating for exceptional and comprehensive patient care. She is self-driven and highly motivated, and she represents St Jude in a highly professional manner to outside organizations.

“Gina became credentialed as the only APP at St Jude to provide etonogestrel implants (Nexplanon), and she performed this procedure four times to date after obtaining credentialing. This provides an integral service to her patient population, as often primary care and GYN services are sought by her patients while being seen for HIV. Her credentialing allows for prompt intervention without a referral or wait time for her patients which had been previously required. She is the first (and only) APP at St Jude to obtain High Resolution Anoscopy certification through International Anal Neoplasia Society’s virtual HRA course. There is not currently another provider, physician or APP in HIV clinic with this certification. She is working on receiving credentialing to be able to diagnose anal neoplasms with a goal of early intervention for her patients. She helped promote exceptional and comprehensive care by becoming the first clinician to treat a co-infected HIV and Hepatitis C patient, which eliminated the need for referral and wait time to see a Hepatologist for Hepatitis C treatment.

"She continues her advocacy efforts by attending twice monthly meetings of the Tennessee Department of Health Hepatitis C Virus Project ECHO sessions aimed at sharing awareness, education, and resources due to increasing numbers of HCV cases in Tennessee. She was invited to present during a meeting in March. Sabbatini serves as preceptor for first matched and completed American Academy of HIV Medicine’s PA preceptorship program. Her efforts will be featured in an article in the summer edition of HIV Specialist Magazine. She has a passion for teaching the next generation of APPs. Sabbatini mentors through AAHIVM’s Mentoring Program to bridge the knowledge gap between experienced HIV care providers and practicing clinicians new or interested in HIV medicine. She is the lead APP for GS9023 (long-acting injectable Lenacapavir PrEP study) in charge of recruitment and enrollment. Since this is a prevention study, she directs her efforts at networking with outside providers to identify high risk individuals who may be interested in HIV prevention.”

Kim Proctor is 2022 Advanced Practice Provider of the Year

Kim Proctor, PPCNP-BC, has been an Advanced Practice Provider with St. Jude for 31 years. A nurse practitioner, Proctor enjoys sharing the knowledge she has accrued throughout her career. Kim says, “At St. Jude, I started out on inpatient night shift where I worked on 7 main and 7 contagious. Then, I moved to days. I worked on the BMT unit for a year before becoming a central venous line nurse. I was a line nurse for seven years. While I was a line nurse, I completed my APP training. I was then hired by Surgery. Under Surgery, I ran the line clinic, and I was also the Ortho and ENT NP. Then, in 2005, I was recruited by Dr. Fred Hoffer to Interventional Radiology and I have been here since.” In 2021, Proctor received her 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training Certificate — in August 2023, she was featured in an article titled "It’s Just Yoga” in the Memphis Health + Fitness Magazine. In 2022, she was the recipient of The Jim Mobley Partner in Excellence Award.

“Kim is the epitome of a mentor. She is a natural leader that has shared her wealth of knowledge with the Vascular Access Team as we have attempted to navigate our new responsibilities related to PICC insertion. She routinely takes time out of her day to check in when she knows we have a procedure, offer guidance (and when necessary be the voice of reason), lifts us up when we have set backs, and is the first to celebrate our successes. Her calm demeanor and ability to soothe worried patients helps them tolerate difficult procedures time and time again, however, her grace and understanding extends past her patients to her co-workers. Without her guidance, experience, and continued support I firmly believe that RN lead PICC insertion would never have been a success. Thank you, Kim, for being an amazing colleague and working collaboratively to help others succeed.”

“There are not enough words to say what a valuable asset Kim Proctor is to her patients, families and peers. She is knowledgeable and kind. She has been a huge help to the VAT this year with ultrasound guided PIV's and PICC's. She has been an encourager, and is making the VAT a better team. We try to be conscious of vein preservation, because we know she is a magician and can get this difficult vein."

“Kim has been a life-saving resource for the vascular access team. She is always willing to listen and give great feedback.”