By Teresa Hicks
University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing Assistant Professor and Co-Coordinator of the Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Specialty Track Sabrina Kopf, DNP, CRNP, ACNP-BC (BSN 2009, DNP 2017), is the recipient of the 2026 Rising Star Award presented by the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner FacultiesOpens an external link.. This national honor recognizes early-career nurse practitioner faculty who have demonstrated promise and impactful achievements in teaching, research, practice, service, innovation, policy or administration.
Kopf’s recognition reflects her contributions to a growing body of work in both clinical practice and academic innovation in acute care for adults. She will be formally recognized in April at the NONPF Annual Conference in Dallas, Texas.
For Kopf, the award reflects her dedication to students and the learning environment she helps create at the UAB School of Nursing.
“It means a great deal to me because it reflects my dedication to our students, who inspire and challenge me every day to grow as both a leader and an educator,” Kopf said. “It also reminds me that when we intentionally invest in our students and support one another as a team, we create engaging, meaningful learning experiences that empower students to translate classroom knowledge into confident, real-world clinical practice. To me, receiving this award signifies rising with purpose, uplifting others as I grow, strengthening our team and helping our students achieve the success they set out to accomplish when they begin the Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program.”
Her commitment to advancing nurse practitioner education also has been recognized at the state and institutional levels.
In 2023, Kopf contributed to an Alabama League for Nursing-funded project implementing an innovative radiology interpretation learning experience for Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner students. In 2024, she was part of a team that received an ALN Excellence in Teaching Award for their peer-reviewed publication on gamification to teach complex clinical skills and published additional work on informed consent education, further highlighting her innovative approaches to nurse practitioner training.
In 2025, Kopf was again a part of a team that received an ALN Excellence in Teaching Award for a telehealth simulation project advancing interprofessional collaboration and social determinants of health recognition among nurse practitioner students. She also earned the School’s Teaching Award for Innovation in Clinical Instruction for enhancing student engagement and clinical readiness, as well as the School’s Clinical Transformation Award for leading the Preceptor Academy for Student Success, expanding and preparing Advanced Practice Registered Nurse preceptors through competency-based education.
In January 2026, she served as senior author on a peer-reviewed, DNP student-led publication examining strategies to reduce triage nurse fatigueOpens an external link. through an evidence-based rotational protocol. In February, she received the School’s Teaching Award for Innovation in Didactic Instruction.