Brandon Varilek, PhD, has been named as one of the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Foundation’s (HPNF) Emerging Leaders Award recipients for 2025.
The honor, which HPNF established in 2021, celebrates and encourages early career hospice and palliative nurses to continue their work in hospice-related care research or practice. HPNF bestows the award to 30 individuals under the age of 40 or those who have less than five years’ experience every three years.
Dr. Varilek, an assistant professor at the UNMC College of Nursing – Omaha division, specializes in research in hospice and palliative care in minoritized populations in Nebraska, South Dakota and the Upper Great Plains Area.
“Receiving this honor is a true privilege and confirms that the work I am doing is valuable not only to the populations I work with, but to the broader hospice and palliative care community,” he said.
Dr. Varilek and his fellow recipients were honored at the Annual Assembly of Hospice and Palliative Care in Denver earlier in February.
Of the honor, Dr. Varilek said he plans to use it as added encouragement to continue to work towards his goal to increase access to communities in need.
“My goal is to broaden access to palliative and hospice care for underserved rural communities by developing innovative mechanisms to incorporate palliative care into normal care settings without overburdening our current palliative care teams,” he said. “I am especially interested in these approaches for those with chronic and end-stage kidney diseases, and with American Indian persons living in Nebraska and the Upper Great Plains.”
For more information about the honor and to see a video of Dr. Varilek acknowledging the award, click here.