• Over 134,000 registrations received from nurses across 214 countries and economies* – a notable increase from the previous edition, which saw 100,000+ entries from 199 countries.
  • The fifth edition highlights nurses driving measurable impact across patient care, innovation, research, and community health worldwide.

Dubai: On the occasion of International Nurses Day, Aster DM Healthcare has announced the Top 10 finalists for the fifth edition of the Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award 2026, selected from over 134,000 registrations across 214 countries and economies* – reinforcing its position as one of the world’s most significant recognitions for the nursing profession. This marks a strong increase from the previous edition, which received 100,000+ registrations from 199 countries, reflecting a growth in applications and expanded global participation.

Aster has appointed Ernst & Young LLP as the independent 'Process Advisors' of the award. The finalists were selected through a rigorous multi-stage evaluation process involving eligibility screening, assessment by an independent panel of experts, and final review by a distinguished Grand Jury.

One of the Top 10 finalists will be honoured with the grand title and a prize of USD 250,000, while the remaining finalists will also receive global recognition and rewards for their outstanding contributions to healthcare.

The top 10 finalists for 2026 includes: Dr. Agimol Pradeep (Kings College Hospital and University of Salford, United Kingdom), Dr. Aidah Alkaissi (Independent Consultant, Sweden), Dinah Sevilla (King Saud University Medical City - King Khalid University Hospital, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), Dr. Hammoda Abu-Odah (The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China), Hindumbi Kourom Kakkada (Government Indira Gandhi Hospital Kavaratti, India), Johana Patricia Galvan Barrios (University of the Coast Corporation (CUC), Colombia), Josephine Nelago Angula (Betesda Medical Centre, Namibia), Oluchi Angel Okoi (Women at Risk International Foundation, Nigeria), Peter Fore (Port Moresby General Hospital and Papua New Guinea Oncology Nurses' Association, Papua New Guinea), Ronald Mario Cañas Rojas (Oncocuidado and Universidad Del Area Andina, Colombia). To know more about the top 10 finalists, please visit: https://www.asterguardians.com/

Dr Azad Moopen, Founder Chairman, Aster DM Healthcare, said “The role of nurses extends far beyond bedside care. Their commitment, dedication, and compassion make them the backbone of healthcare systems across the world. They are often the first to identify gaps in the system, drive innovation, and mentor the generation of healthcare professionals. This is what makes their contribution both indispensable and transformative.

The overwhelming response this year in the fifth edition, with over 134,000 registrations from 214 countries and economies, reflects the scale and significance of their impact. It is truly an honour to recognise these Top 10 finalists, whose work is driving meaningful change at scale, often in some of the most challenging healthcare environments.”

Alisha Moopen, Managing Director & Group CEO, Aster DM Healthcare GCC, added “One of the most encouraging themes this year is how nurses are not only delivering impact today, but actively building capacity for the future; mentoring teams, strengthening systems, and creating frameworks that outlast individual roles. The Top 10 finalists represent a generation of nursing leadership that is focused on sustainability, scalability, and long-term impact.”

The final round will feature interviews with a distinguished Grand Jury comprising global healthcare leaders, including Prof. Sheila Tlou, Chancellor at Botswana Open University, Special Ambassador of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (Botswana) and Former Minister of Health, Botswana; Prof. James Buchan, Adjunct Professor at the WHO Collaborating Centre, University of Technology Sydney, and Editor Emeritus of Human Resources for Health Journal; Dr. Peter Carter, OBE awardee and former CEO of Central & Northwest London NHS Trust and the Royal College of Nursing (UK); Dr. Niti Pall, President-Elect of the International Diabetes Federation Global and Senior Consultant at AXA EssentiAll (France); and Mr. Vishal Bali, Executive Chairman of Asia Healthcare Holdings & Senior Advisor at TPG Growth, General Council Member at Neonates Foundation of India.

The winner will be announced at a gala event in India in July 2026.  

*As per data.worldbank.org/country

About Aster DM Healthcare FZC in GCC

Founded in 1987 by Dr. Azad Moopen, Aster DM Healthcare is a leading integrated healthcare provider, with a strong presence across 5 countries in the GCC and Jordan. Aster is committed to the vision of providing accessible and high-quality healthcare, from primary to quaternary services, with its promise of “We will treat you well”. The organisation’s robust integrated healthcare model includes 15 hospitals, 124 clinics, and 333 pharmacies in GCC serving all segments of the society through three differentiated brands: Aster, Medcare and Access. Aster consistently adapts to meet the evolving needs of patients, ensuring access to quality healthcare through both physical and digital channels which is exemplified with the launch of the region's first healthcare super app, myAster.

About Aster DM Healthcare Limited, India

Aster DM Healthcare Limited is one of the largest healthcare service providers operating in India with a strong presence across primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary healthcare through 19 hospitals with 5,128 beds, 13 clinics, 203 pharmacies (Operated by Alfaone Retail Pharmacies Private Limited under brand license from Aster), and 254 labs and patient experience centers across 5 states in India, delivering a simple yet strong promise to different stakeholders: “We’ll Treat You Well.”

For more information about us, please contact:
Lavanya Mandal                                                            
Head of PR and Internal Communications
Aster DM Healthcare
Email: lavanya.mandal@asterdmhealthcare.com

Udhayan Sasidharan Nair
Manager - PR & Communications
Aster DM Healthcare
Email: udhayan.nair@asterdmhealthcare.com

Annexure / Editor’s Note –

The top 10 finalists for 2026 include:

Dr. Agimol Pradeep, Senior Transplant Coordinator, King's College Hospital, and Honorary Senior Lecturer, University of Salford, United Kingdom: When Dr. Agimol Pradeep identified a crucial inequity in transplant care, with South Asian patients disproportionately dying on waiting lists due to a lack of ethnically matched donors, and translated this insight into research-led, community-driven action. Through her PhD and sustained engagement with religious leaders and community groups, she helped reshape perceptions around organ donation, co-founding the Upahaar initiative which has registered over 10,000 stem cell donors. In parallel, she contributed to regulatory change enabling internationally trained nurses to re-enter the UK workforce, addressing systemic workforce shortages. Her work demonstrates large-scale impact across both patient access and healthcare capacity, earning her recognition including the British Empire Medal.

Dr. Aidah Alkaissi, Independent Consultant, Sweden: With a career spanning nearly five decades across Sweden, Norway, and Palestine, Dr. Aidah Alkaissi has advanced nursing education, critical care practice, and research through a combination of clinical leadership, academic innovation, and institution-building. Based in Sweden, she has contributed to intensive care, anesthesia nursing through both advanced clinical practice and university teaching, including her role at Linköping University, where she taught undergraduate and postgraduate nursing students and contributed to research focused on patient safety, clinical outcomes, and evidence-based practice. Alongside her work in Scandinavia, she played a foundational role in strengthening nursing education in Palestine as Founding Dean of the Faculty of Nursing at An-Najah National University, where she led the launch of the PhD programme in Nursing and multiple specialised master’s programmes aligned with ACEN, AACN and QSEN standards, while integrating simulation-based learning, learning, problem-based training, and virtual reality to strengthen clinical readiness. She was the director of an American Heart Association-accredited Life Support Training Centre at An-Najah National University, expanding access to critical care skills among healthcare professionals.

Dinah Sevilla, Head Nurse, Peritoneal Dialysis — King Saud University Medical City - King Khalid University Hospital, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Dinah Sevilla addressed a critical gap in peritoneal dialysis care, where low patient understanding and language barriers in home-based treatment were driving preventable complications, by redesigning patient education through culturally adapted, visual, and individualized training supported by interpreters to improve adherence and technique. This intervention delivered measurable results: a peritonitis rate of 0.07% against a global benchmark of 0.40%, zero incidents across key nursing safety indicators - including medication errors, falls, and catheter-related complications, and a reduction in hospital admissions and emergency visits, demonstrating the system-wide impact of targeted, nurse-led innovation in chronic care.

Dr. Hammoda Abu-Odah, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing — The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China: Dr. Hammoda Abu-Odah grew up in Gaza, practiced nursing through war and power outages, lost six international scholarships to border closures, and still became the first nurse from Gaza to earn a PhD at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Today, he is advancing palliative and cancer care in resource-constrained and conflict-affected settings by combining frontline experience with global research and innovation. Building on his early work in Gaza, he contributed to the development of Palestine’s first national palliative care framework and now leads the Good Death Cross-Cultural International Study across five countries, generating new insights into end-of-life care. He has also pioneered Hong Kong’s Creative Arts Therapy clinical trial for prostate cancer patients, and he is currently working with a team to develop a digital platform to improve symptom tracking and personalised care. With over 60 peer-reviewed publications and a role on the WHO Regional Palliative Care Expert Network, his work is shaping clinical practice and influencing health policy internationally.

Hindumbi Kaurom Kakkada, Theatre Trained Nurse — Government Indira Gandhi Hospital Kavaratti, India: Hindumbi Kaurom Kakkada has delivered frontline healthcare for over 53 years in Lakshadweep, one of India’s most geographically isolated regions, where limited infrastructure and access challenges shape care delivery. She has rendered dedicated nursing assistance in more than 20,000 surgeries and emergency cases, she has sustained care in high-risk conditions, including conducting procedures during sea transfers and power outages, while ensuring continuity for critically ill patients. Alongside clinical service, she drove sustained community engagement efforts that increased acceptance of institutional deliveries, vaccinations, and preventive healthcare in previously resistant populations, and played a key role in disease control initiatives and outbreak response, including cholera containment. Her work has strengthened both health outcomes and local care capacity in a remote island setting.

Johana Patricia Galvan Barrios, Nurse, Researcher & Lecturer — University of the Coast Corporation (CUC), Colombia: Johana Galvan Barrios is advancing the integration of technology into nursing practice to address gaps in patient adherence and care quality, particularly in chronic disease management. As a researcher, lecturer, and Principal Investigator for an ERASMUS+ project spanning Colombia and Peru, she has begun piloting virtual reality-based therapeutic education models at a prototype stage, showing initial promise in improving treatment adherence and metabolic control among diabetic patients. At an institutional level, her quality improvement initiatives have delivered a 38% reduction in costs associated with poor-quality care. She has built multidisciplinary collaborations with engineers, data scientists, and policymakers, led research groups on AI and Industry 4.0 in healthcare, and published across Q1-Q4 journals.

Josephine Nelago Angula, Founder & Practice Manager — Betesda Medical Centre, Namibia: In 2002, Josephine Angula expanded access to primary healthcare in an underserved Namibian community by building a nurse-led clinic into a comprehensive, multi-service facility despite systemic barriers to funding, licensing, and practice. Starting as a single-room operation in 2002, she developed Betesda Medical Centre into an integrated care hub offering medical, dental, and radiology services, improving early diagnosis, continuity of care, and long-term patient outcomes. Her clinic also contributes to national HIV prevention efforts as a licensed Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) centre, while her patient-centred approach has strengthened treatment adherence and chronic disease management. Through mentorship and workforce development, she has further expanded local care capacity, demonstrating the scalability and impact of nurse-led healthcare delivery.

Oluchi Angel Okoi, Head of Nursing Unit — Women at Risk International Foundation (WARIF), Nigeria: Oluchi Angel Okoi has strengthened the response to sexual and gender-based violence by integrating trauma-informed clinical care with forensic and legal processes at a leading rape crisis centre in Lagos. With 19 years of experience and nearly a decade in leadership, she has embedded trauma-informed care practices that have improved disclosure rates, treatment adherence, and psychological recovery among survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. She has trained nursing teams in forensic documentation and courtroom preparation, served as an expert witness in legal proceedings, and in one case involving nine child survivors, her clinical testimony contributed directly to the conviction of the perpetrator. Oluchi has demonstrated the role of nursing in delivering both recovery and justice.

Peter Fore, Registered Nursing Officer, Oncology — Port Moresby General Hospital and President of Papua New Guniea Oncology Nurses Association (PaNGONA), Papua New Guinea: Peter Fore has strengthened oncology care in Papua New Guinea by addressing critical gaps in a severely resource-constrained system, where he serves as a nurse administering chemotherapy for gynaecological cancers at the country’s primary oncology referral centre. In response to limited staffing, persistent drug shortages, and growing patient demand, he introduced structured chemotherapy protocols, streamlined scheduling systems, and proactive patient follow-up to improve treatment continuity and reduce drop-offs. Recognising the need for systemic change, he went on to establish the Papua New Guinea Oncology Nurses Association (PaNGONA) in 2022, a professional oncology nursing network, creating access to training, mentorship, and international collaboration, and laying the foundation for stronger national cancer care capacity.

Ronald Mario Cañas Rojas, Oncology Nurse & Founder, Oncocuidado, and Lecturer, The Fundación Universitaria Del Area Andina, Colombia: Ronald Mario Cañas Rojas identified a critical gap in cancer care – patients and families leaving consultations without understanding their diagnosis or treatment, a challenge intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic. He responded by founding Oncocuidado, a free, non-commercial digital education platform delivering clear, accessible oncology guidance. Built independently alongside his clinical role, the platform now spans over 800 videos across four channels, reaching 9.1 million views, 289,000+ hours of watched content, and a community of 74,000 subscribers. By improving patient understanding, reducing anxiety, and enabling earlier recognition of complications, his work has strengthened treatment adherence and extended the reach of oncology nursing far beyond the clinic.