Gator Nurse Courtney Irwin (B.S.N. 2005, M.S.N. 2011) was one of 30 University of Florida alumni who received this year’s Outstanding Young Alumni Award in a celebration at the University of Florida Alumni Association April 14.
Irwin is a pediatric nurse practitioner and medical manager at Children of the Promise, an orphanage in northern Haiti that she has served since 2015.
The orphanage houses and cares for many medically complex children. Irwin oversees their medical care and helps educate the Haitian nursing staff members. She also leads a formula and malnutrition program for severely malnourished children in the Haitian community.
The nutrition program provides formula and Medika Mamba—ready-to-use therapeutic food made of ground roasted peanuts, powdered milk, cooking oil, sugar, vitamins, and minerals—to malnourished children.
Children live at the orphanage, are cared for until they are back to a healthy state, and then reunited with their biological families.
The University of Florida Alumni Association presents the Outstanding Young Alumni Award annually. The award program was established in 2006 to recognize alumni under age 40 whose achievements positively reflect The Gator Nation®. Criteria for the award include making a significant impact on their industry and having professional accomplishments at the state, national or international level.
The Outstanding Young Alumni Award recognizes graduates from all of UF’s 16 colleges. This year’s winners range from doctors and pharmacists to entrepreneurs and artists. Past award winners include meteorologist Stephanie Abrams, politician Adam Putnam and sportscaster and television personality Erin Andrews.
Please visit ufalumni.ufl.edu to learn more about the UF Alumni Association.