By Sarah Morgan Johnson

University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing alumna and retired Army Col. Pauline Swiger, PhD, RN, CNL, CMSRN, FAAN (PhD 2017), is the recipient of the TriService Nursing Research Program 2025 Scientific Mentor Award. This award honors a TSNRP Military Nurse who has championed early career military nurses as nurse scholars, helping them develop evidence-based practices or conduct research that improves outcomes within the military health care system. Swiger was nominated for the 2025 Scientific Mentor Award by her mentees and accepted it at the TriService Nursing Research Meeting in San Antonio, Texas in March.

The TSNRP is the foundation for military nursing research, and it provides research funding, evidence-based practice support and a scholarly community for military nurses. Swiger has found fulfillment in her role as a TSNRP Scientific Mentor and feels it has enhanced her own work as a military nurse researcher. She said she is honored to be recognized by her mentees.

“To have the people that you are serving nominate you for an award makes it so much more meaningful. Every time I have a chance to be on a dissertation committee or mentor someone, I learn so much. As you move up in rank or away from the bedside, it can be easy to fall out of touch, so the opportunity to stay connected to the things meaningful to the organization and the people doing the work is incredible. I love being a mentor not only because I believe in relationship-based leadership, but because I get so much out of it. To excel in your job, you must keep learning, and without engaging students I would be missing out on huge swaths of information,” Swiger said.

After more than 24 years of dedicated military service, Swiger retired in March 2025. She formerly served as the Chief Nursing Officer and the Accelerating Care Transformation Co-Lead for the Defense Health Agency, the Chief of Nursing Research at Madigan Army Medical Center and the Consultant to the Army Surgeon General for Nursing Research. Her military career began when she joined the ROTC as a college student, and her interest in military nursing research was sparked soon after.

“Seeing the power of military nursing research in real time inspired me to pursue a career in research. If you look at military health care, you can see the advancements that came from Vietnam and other conflicts because military providers collected so much data in a short period of time and innovated quickly to solve problems. This data and mindset lead to advancements not only in military health care, but in civilian health care as well,” Swiger said.

During her time in the School’s Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing Program, Retired Army Colonel and former Professor and Rachel Z. Booth Endowed Chair in Nursing Patricia A. Patrician, PhD, RN, FAAN mentored Swiger. When she graduated, Patrician encouraged Swiger to seek out mentoring roles herself. Swiger is grateful for Patrician’s legacy of leadership and is humbled to follow in her footsteps.

“Having a mentor like Dr. Patrician is the reason that I'm a successful mentor today. I watched her receive the TSNRP Scientific Mentor Award many years ago, so to be of her caliber and to be recognized in the same way is such an honor,” Swiger said.