Deasa Dorsey, BSN, RN
iCan Health, Black Nurse Network

Deasa Dorsey is a transformative nursing leader whose work spans clinical practice, entrepreneurship, and community advocacy. As co-founder of the Black Nurse Network, she has empowered Black nursing students and championed inclusive excellence within the profession. Through iCan Health Inc., she delivers innovative care strategies for individuals managing diabetes and chronic conditions. A former UC College of Nursing adjunct instructor, Alumni Board president, and faculty advisor, Dorsey has shaped the next generation of nurses both in and out of the classroom. Her career is defined by equity, excellence, and purpose.

Molly Mendenhall, MBOE, BSN, LSSBB, RN
Oncology Hematology Care (OHC)

Molly Mendenhall has traveled the full arc of nursing leadership — from oncology bedside nurse to Senior Director of Quality and Compliance — carrying clinical instinct into every executive decision she makes. Through her leadership of the Oncology Care Model, she guided a six-year transformation that reduced avoidable hospitalizations by 16%, delivering better continuity of care and fewer emergency visits for patients and families. She has advanced precision oncology through standardized biomarker testing, integrated biosimilars, and strengthened advance care planning across her organization. A published author and national presenter, Mendenhall represents what nursing leadership looks like when frontline experience meets systems-level vision.

Lori (Dolores) Puthoff, MSN, RN, NE-BC
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

Dolores (Lori) Puthoff is a nursing leader whose impact stretches far beyond the walls of Cincinnati Children's. As Director of the Specialty Resource Unit, she built a high-performing team supporting all 17 hospital areas and led a masterful redeployment of nurses across the entire organization during COVID. Her vision extended nationally through the founding of the National Float Pool Collaborative, now uniting over 70 organizations around float pool best practices. She also pioneered Remote Patient Monitoring, optimized patient flow through a Transfer/Command Center, and created the pre-arrival nurse role. A devoted mentor and innovator, Puthoff has shaped careers, systems, and standards across the profession.

The 2026 Torch of Excellence Nursing Awards highlights Ernestine Wiedenbach (1900–1998), whose contributions to nursing have left a legacy that spans education, midwifery, and the philosophy of care.

Wiendenbach's most enduring contribution is the Helping Art of Clinical Nursing theory, which gave the profession a rigorous intellectual foundation built around identifying each patient's unique need for help. She was also a leading figure in nurse-midwifery, co-authoring one of the first major clinical texts in the field and helping establish it as a respected American specialty.

Above all, Wiedenbach contributed a philosophy that the nurse's job is to see and respond to each patient's needs with intention and compassion, elevating nursing from a task-based occupation to a truly human-centered practice.