The Penn Nursing Alumni Board hosted a virtual webinar with 1973 Nursing and Wharton graduate Georgia Robins Sadler, the school’s 2025 Outstanding Alumni Award recipient.
The webinar recognized Sadler’s career in health education, community outreach, and mentorship. It also launched the next round of nominations for the Nursing School’s annual alumni awards.
During the conversation, alumni board member Shelley Davis described Sadler as a leader whose “career has focused on reducing health disparities through innovative community-based education and outreach.”
Sadler told attendees that her time at Penn changed the course of her life and shaped her approach to nursing.
“We were very much a part of the university campus,” Sadler said. “We were never sidelined.”
She discussed her academic path through three Penn programs — the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Nursing Program, the Nursing School, and the Wharton School — which she said gave her new ways to think about health systems.
“I applied to Wharton, I applied to the School of Nursing, and the School of Education,” Sadler said. “Whoever wanted me first, I would go there.”
She later earned an MBA while working night shifts to support herself, describing it as an experience that taught her to “figure out how to manage [her] time” and think about what she “really wanted to do.”
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Her work focused on community-based health education, particularly in underrepresented areas. Sadler created community outreach programs that utilized beauty salons, barbershops, and churches to spread health information about cancer screening and diabetes prevention.
“In Black salons, you never run out of things to talk about because there are no limits,” Sadler said. “We talk about everything.”
The webinar also focused on Sadler’s mentorship of nursing students.
“Students made the difference in what I could do,” Sadler said. “None of this would have been possible without them.”
She added that she often helped students attend conferences by writing grants that included funding for travel.
“Every year, I was bringing anywhere from a dozen to, one year, 58 students,” Sadler said.
In a written statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian, Sadler reflected on how her years at Penn shaped her outlook and career.
“Neither of my parents had the luxury of a college education,” Sadler wrote to the DP. “[Penn] opened my eyes to the many ways I could use my nursing education and also continue my education after graduation from HUP. Learning with Penn students and faculty felt like the whole world was opening up to me and launched a sense of joyous curiosity that has yet to be quenched.”
Event organizer and Associate Director of Alumni Engagement Maddie Nicol said the award committee sought to highlight that spirit of mentorship and commitment to students.
“Dr. Sadler’s nomination shined a light on the work that she is doing in all spheres, [as well as] work with current nursing students and the opportunities she’s given them,” Nicol said.
She added that alumni engagement programs like this one “show the long-term impact of Penn Nursing graduates” and help connect current students to those who have carried the school’s values into their own careers.
The virtual event, now in its third year, also marked the opening of the nomination period for the Nursing School’s 2026 alumni awards. Nicol said the goal of these conversations is to give attendees a chance to hear directly from alumni whose work continues to influence the field.
Sadler reflected on the lessons she hoped current students and young professionals would take from her career.
“It’s important you just keep moving forward,” Sadler said. “And if it's not the right thing, finish it, because then you weave it together and you have a really strong flying carpet … you can ride on all your life, because you've woven all of your life experiences together into a cohesive whole.”
