Zenaide started forensic nursing in Brazil; in 2015 she brought Virginia Lynch, Jamie Ferrel, and Albino Gomes to Brazil to teach the FNE (Forensic Nurse Examiner) course, that same year, she wrote the technical skills of forensic nursing in Brazil and founded the Brazilian Association of Forensic Nursing - ABEFORENSE. In 2016, she started a series of lectures in Brazil teaching and talking about forensic nursing and its importance. The Federal Nursing Council invited her to join the forensic nursing group, and the technical skills of forensic nursing that she wrote became law in Brazil. Still, in 2016, in partnership with deputies, she participated in the parliamentary front committee in defense of women's rights and established Forensic Nursing Day in the State of Sergipe. In 2017, Resolution of the Federal Nursing Council Resolution 0556/2017 established the law on technical skills in forensic nursing and came into force. In the same year, she wrote the forensic nursing guidance booklet, which shows forensic and non-forensic nurses how to care for and identify victims of violence. In 2018, she held the first international and interdisciplinary forensic nursing congress in Brazil, with the participation of the FBI and INTERPOL. The FBI awarded Zenaide a medal of honor for her services to victims of violence and Brazilian forensic nursing, she created the Rita Cavalcanti de Medeiros Award, offered to forensic nurses who stood out during the year. In 2019, she created, in partnership with the Federal Nursing Council, the National Forensic Nursing Commission to assist forensic nurses from all over Brazil and victims of violence. She was at Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center in Maryland, United States, at the invitation of forensic nurses to undergo 15-day training in the forensic nursing department at that hospital. She won the Virginia A. Lynch Pioneer Award in Forensic Nursing. Still in 2019, she participated in INTERFORENSICS, a congress that brings together more than 36 countries, Zenaide is the coordinator of the forensic nursing scientific committee; this congress brings together the biggest names in world forensic sciences and is promoted by forensic experts from the Federal Police of Brazil and the forensic nursing was included as a speaker and scientific committee.

Zenaide does several things for forensic nursing, took a course with NASA instructors to improve, and partnered with the FBI and INTERPOL. She began a postgraduate course in forensic nursing in Brazil. Zenaide is creating the first forensic nursing center in Brazil to care for victims of violence. She created an international council for the Brazilian Association of Forensic Nursing-Abeforense in the United States, composed of forensic nurses from Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center, in Maryland, United States. Zenaide created the APP Angelus Forenses to help people have greater contact and knowledge about forensic nursing in Brazil. She created the Pandora's Box APP, where, through a questionnaire, it is possible to measure the level of mental suffering of nursing professionals. During 2020 at the Covid-19 Academy, she created the Abeforense Convida project, held educational lives on forensic nursing, and every Monday during the Abeforense invitations, she interviewed people or experts always related to the topic of forensic nursing. With the aim of educating people about non-violence, she always shows the importance and need for forensic nursing in Brazil and the world. Abeforense invitations are broadcast on YouTube on the Abeforense channel. During the pandemic, it partnered with some companies and collected more than 10,000 pieces of PPE for professionals in Brazil who did not have protective equipment. She also received donations from forensic nurses at Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center, in Maryland, United States, at that same hospital, she received training in forensic nursing in 2019 and 2022, and put it into practice in Brazil.

Furthermore, in 2024, for the first time in the history of Brazilian forensic nursing, Zenaide acted in a mass disaster as a forensic nurse, identified victims of violence, and brought justice. She has also lectured in many countries regarding forensic nursing. For the work carried out and for her dedication to forensic nursing and victims of violence, we at the Brazilian Forensic Nursing Association - ABEFORENSE, believe that Zenaide deserves this award.

***

Zenaide has been working in nursing for 22 years, as a nurse she has always provided direct care to patients working on the front line in the emergency room and in the mobile emergency room in Sergipe, that is, in addition to dedicating herself to the hospital, she also dedicates herself caring for patients in their home. With the beginning of her studies in forensic nursing, she dedicated herself to serving a population that was previously underserved, which significantly changed the standards of care provided to victims of violence who arrive at hospitals. She has dedicated herself to forensic nursing since 2009, it was through her effort and personal sacrifice that forensic nursing exists today in Brazil, this sacrifice was made for the good of the patient victim of violence. She began her career in the emergency room of the Sergipe Hospital, today she dedicates herself to forensic nursing, working in the hospital, in universities as a teacher and preceptor, as FNE, she is part of the national forensic nursing commission of the Federal Nursing Council, she helped to create laws currently in force in Brazil in relation to forensic nursing and to provide better care for victims of violence. She seeks to make her career a constant evolution. In recent years, she has provided extraordinary care and created significant benefits for the patients she serves on the front lines. Zenaide is a leader in forensic nursing in Brazil and is always willing to help, whether it be the patient or her team. In these 22 years of experience she is a nurse, teacher, trains nurses to be forensic nurses, she is tireless!!! It is this strength that Zenaide has that makes our work easier. As a good leader, she teaches us what she knows and pushes us to be better.