Three members of the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing community were accepted into the prestigious Fellows of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (FAANP) program.
Associate Professors Brayden Kameg (BSN ’16, DNP ’19) and Tracey Robertson Bell and alumna Maya Clark-Cutaia (PhD ’12) are among the 2026 inductees. They will be formally recognized on June 25, 2026, at the AANP National Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Over the last 26 years, the FAANP program has celebrated nurse practitioner leaders who have greatly advanced education, policy, research or clinical practice. This year, the program accepted 59 exceptional nurse practitioners who work across 27 U.S. states.
Brayden Kameg
In addition to teaching, Kameg serves as Pitt Nursing’s associate dean for graduate clinical education. Prior to that, she was the coordinator of the school’s Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) program.
Her acceptance into FAANP follows her inductions into two other prestigious societies within the last year: the American Academy of Nursing and the International Society of Psychiatric Mental Health Nurses. Kameg said that being welcomed into FAANP reinforces her efforts to advance the nurse practitioner profession and improve health outcomes for patients and communities alike.
“I am so humbled to be recognized amongst a distinguished cohort of nurse practitioner leaders,” Kameg said.
In her research, Kameg specializes in substance use treatment and harm reduction interventions, as well as veteran-centered care. Through her work, she aims to help nurses and nurse practitioners meet their patients’ mental and behavioral health care needs.
She is the co-founder and co-owner of a private psychiatry practice, as well as the founding program director of a PMHNP residency program at the Veterans Administration Pittsburgh Healthcare System (VAPHS). When PMHNPs were granted full practice authority at VAPHS, Kameg ensured that the nurse practitioners were not only properly oriented, but also empowered to practice to the fullest extent of their training and licensure.
“Throughout my career, I have worked to advance psychiatric-mental health and substance use treatment, mentor the next generation of nurse practitioners and promote evidence-based practice through research, teaching and national service,” she said. “I look forward to ongoing, active involvement with the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and collaboration with the distinguished group of FAANPs to advance the nurse practitioner profession.”
Tracey Robertson Bell
Robertson Bell is an educator and coordinator of Pitt Nursing’s Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Program, as well as the school’s vice chair for administration. For her, being accepted into the FAANP is a major career milestone.
“This designation represents the highest professional distinction a nurse practitioner can achieve,” she said, “and I am profoundly grateful for the colleagues, mentors and collaborators whose unwavering support and encouragement made this achievement possible.”
In her work, Robertson Bell approaches nursing-related questions and issues from a global perspective and has played a pivotal role in developing curricula for neonatal nurses worldwide. She serves on the advisory board of the Global Collaboration for Maternal and Infant Health, collaborating with global sites on educational efforts designed to reduce neonatal morbidity and mortality.
She has also pioneered efforts to improve diversity and address racial disparities in higher education and the neonatal workforce, including creating mentorship opportunities for underrepresented nurses considering careers as advanced practice neonatal nurses.
Previously, Robertson Bell received a 2025 Outstanding Scholar Award from the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties, a 2025 Neonatal Excellence Award from the Academy of Neonatal Nursing and a 2023 Excellence Award from the National Association of Neonatal Nurses. She now joins a network of 1,000 AANP fellows who are pushing the boundaries of what nurse practitioners can achieve.
“Among this esteemed group of NP leaders who have made extraordinary contributions to education, policy, clinical practice, and research, I look forward to advancing the work that I am passionate about: inspiring and mentoring the next generation of neonatal nurse practitioners to deliver exceptional, evidence-based care leading to impactful changes in neonatal outcomes,” she said.
Maya Clark-Cutaia
Clark-Cutaia is a professor as well as the inaugural Evelyn Lauder Associate Dean for Nurse Practitioner Programs at Hunter College’s Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing in New York City.
Previously, she served as a flight nurse in a U.S. Air Force Reserve aeromedical evacuation squadron as well as a public health nurse in an aerospace medicine squadron. She went on to teach at New York University’s Rory Meyers College of Nursing and the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, and she amassed 22 years of clinical experience at Penn Medicine, the University of Pennsylvania’s health system.
Leveraging her background in acute care, she now explores the social and structural factors underpinning chronic illness. Her research investigates the intersection of racism, discrimination and social determinants of health and their links to adverse health outcomes. She has shed light on understudied populations living with end-stage kidney disease, and she continues to serve communities as a nurse practitioner specializing in urology, general surgery and colorectal surgery.
Clark-Cutaia was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing last year and previously received the National Black Nurses Association’s 40 Under 40 Award and the American Nephrology Nurses Association’s Researcher of the Year Award. She called her acceptance into FAANP an “extraordinary honor and a meaningful affirmation” of her work.
“I am driven by a commitment to preparing the next generation of NPs and to building systems of care that are more just, inclusive and responsive to the needs of the communities we serve,” Clark-Cutaia said. “I am proud to be part of FAANP and inspired by its leadership in advancing our profession."