At the 2021 AL DÍA Top Nurses Forum & Awards virtual event, we will aim to shine a light on some of the notable nurses and healthcare professionals in the region.

After a month-long nomination period that saw AL DÍA receive a total of 64 nominations, the advisory board for the event sorted through all the nominations and selected 12 as honorees for this year's event.  

The honorees are split between four categories: academic practice, community practice, health systems practice and emerging leader.

In the days leading up to the May 26 event, AL DÍA will be releasing the names of the honorees by category. The honorees for the academic practice category can be found here, and the honorees for the health systems practice category can be found here. 

Here are the honorees for the AL DIA Top Nurses award in the category of community practice.

Registered Nurse at The Chester County Hospital/Penn Medicine

Lissette Liriano has worked at Chester County Hospital/Penn Medicine since 2015. In her role, she has been a leader for both English and Spanish speaking families, providing maternity unit hours to expecting parents. Her work within the RN capacity led her to create the “Moms Supporting Moms” support group for Chester County Hospital. 

Liriano has also worked at Devereux as a mental health registered nurse, and as a registered nurse at Las Palmas Medical Center.

Liriano earned her bachelor degree as a registered nurse from Molloy College, before earning her master’s in psychology with a specialty in child/adolescent development from Capella University. 

Nursing Professional Development Specialist for Community Engagement at Penn Medicine - Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

Sofia Carreno joined Penn Medicine as a nursing professional development specialist in community engagement in May 2020. 

She has also spent more than four years as an adjunct faculty at Thomas Jefferson University.

Other roles include three years as an RN health coach and embedded care coordinator at Independence Blue Cross, and as an emergency department registered nurse at both Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals and MedStar Washington Hospital Center.  

Carreno has a bachelor’s of science in nursing from Thomas Jefferson University, as well as a master of science in nursing from Thomas Jefferson University. 

Nurse Practitioner, CEO & Owner of Viva Care Solutions; Past President of NAHN Philadelphia Chapter

Valerie Caraballo is a nurse practitioner at University of Pennsylvania Health System and Cooper University Health Care. She is also a past president of the Philadelphia Chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses. 

Prior to her current role as a nurse practitioner, Caraballo has worked a number of different roles, such as an adjunct professor at Rutgers University and Rowan University, as well as an emergency department staff nurse at Virtua Health and The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. 

Caraballo has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Chestnut Hill College, as well as a bachelor’s as a registered nurse from Temple University. She also has a master’s in public health nursing from Drexel University and a post master’s certificate from Drexel as a family nurse practitioner. She also has an MBA from Western Governors University. 

The 2021 AL DÍA Top Nurses Forum & Awards event will take place virtually on Wednesday, May 26, 2021 starting at 5:30 p.m. For registration information, click here.