Speakers

Carol F. Durham, EdD, MSN, RN, ANEF, FAAN 
Professor Emeritus
University of North Carolina School of Nursing

Dr. Carol Durham is Professor Emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing. Over her 45-year tenure, she served as Director of the Education–Innovation–Simulation Learning Environment, overseeing skill acquisition and simulation-based learning across prelicensure and graduate nursing programs. She has also held multiple leadership roles within the School of Nursing, including Faculty Chair and the Inaugural Director of Interprofessional Education & Practice.

Dr. Durham is recognized as a national and international leader in the fields of quality and safety, simulation and interprofessional education. A past President of the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning (INACSL), she collaborated with the National Council of State Boards of Nursing and other experts to establish simulation guidelines for nursing programs. As a member of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) project, Dr. Durham’s work has had a sustained impact on preparing faculty to integrate quality, safety, and evidence-based pedagogy into their teaching.

She is a contributor to the AACN Essentials Assessment Expert Working Group and chairs the AACN Essentials Scenario Working Group, leading national efforts to integrate simulation as a methodology for coaching students to meet the AACN Essentials.  

Dr. Durham continues to support prelicensure students in developing strong clinical reasoning and judgment skills through robust case-based learning and situated coaching/debriefing. She has an extensive record of publications and is frequently invited to present nationally and internationally on simulation and healthcare education.

Her contributions have been recognized with numerous awards, including the 2023 Society for Simulation in Healthcare Director of the Year, INACSL’s 2018 “Spirit of Simulation” Leadership Excellence Award, the 2017 Presidentia l Citation from the Society for Simulation in Healthcare, and the 2025 DAISY Lifetime Achievement Award. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN), the National League for Nursing Academy of Nursing Education (ANEF), and the Society for Simulation in Healthcare Academy (FSSH). 

Jennifer T. Alderman, PhD, MSN, RN, CNL, CNE, CHSE, NEA-BC 
Clinical Professor & Interprofessional Education and Practice Director
UNC Chapel Hill School of Nursing

Dr. Jennifer T. Alderman is a Clinical Professor and Director of Interprofessional Education and Practice at the UNC Chapel Hill School of Nursing, where she has been a faculty member for over 15 years. As Interprofessional Education and Practice (IPEP) Director of the school, she works to ensure that IPE and simulation are integrated across programs and properly leveled across the curriculum. Dr. Alderman and colleagues have presented nationally and internationally about simulation outcomes, including the impact of virtual simulation on the clinical judgment in pre-licensure nursing students. She has published in the Journal of Interprofessional Care and the Journal of Nursing Care Quality, co-authored book chapters on simulation in Quality and Safety in Nursing: A Competency Approach to Improving Outcomes (3rd ed.), Clinical Simulation in Nursing: From Conceptualization to Evaluation (3rd ed.), Reflective Practice: Reimagining Ourselves, Reimagining Nursing (3rd ed.), and

The Nexus between Nursing and Patient Safety and has given over 25 presentations at national and international conferences over the past decade. Dr. Alderman is a member of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing, American Nurses Association, North Carolina Nurses Association, and a lifetime member of the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning (INACSL). Dr. Alderman chaired INACSL's Membership Engagement Committee where she worked on webinars, national conference planning, and served as the inaugural season one host of the Let’s Talk Sim podcast.   

Leah Burt, PhD, APRN-FPA, ANP-BC, CHSE, FAANP
Clinical Assistant Professor  
Director, Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Program
Director of Simulation Assessment & Research, M. Christine Schwartz Experiential Learning & Simulation Laboratory
University of Illinois Chicago College of Nursing

Dr. Leah Burt is a Clinical Assistant Professor and Director of the Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Program at the University of Illinois Chicago College of Nursing, as well as Director of Simulation Research in the College of Nursing's M. Christine Schwartz Experiential Learning and Simulation Laboratory. After completing her PhD in Nursing Science with a focus on diagnostic reasoning, Dr. Burt engaged in postdoctoral training as a Fellow in Diagnostic Excellence through the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine as well as postdoctoral training in simulation education and research. She is a current Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation Faculty Scholar. A Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator, Dr. Burt’s scholarship blends expertise in educational design with mixed methodology research to discover evidence-based ways to assess and enhance learner competency through innovative simulation. Dr. Burt collaborates with nurse practitioner educators across the country and her leadership has been honored with the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine’s Emerging Leader Rising Star Award, the Barbara Berger Excellence in Teaching Award, and the DAISY Faculty Award for extraordinary educational contributions.

Mindi Anderson, PhD, APRN, CPNP-PC, CNE, CHSOS, CHSE-A, ANEF, FSSH, FAAN 
Associate Dean for Simulation and Immersive Learning
Professor
Director for Healthcare Simulation Program 
University of Central Florida

Dr. Mindi Anderson is an early pioneer in healthcare simulation education who is today one of the world’s foremost experts in the field. She is the inaugural and current program director of the Healthcare Simulation graduate program at the UCF College of Nursing. Anderson’s research, which includes virtual and game-based simulation, new simulation technologies, standardized patients, interprofessional education using simulation and use of simulation in preparing students for nursing practice, has been widely published and presented both nationally and internationally. Her findings over the last 14 years have advanced nursing science and helped to establish best practices in healthcare simulation education. In addition, Anderson is part of an interdisciplinary team at UCF that has been issued two patents on advances in simulation and training.

Speakers

Dawn Mueller-Burke, PhD, CRNP, NNP-BC 
Assistant Professor/Neonatal Nurse Practitioner 
University of Maryland Baltimore 
University of Maryland Medical Center

Dr. Dawn Mueller-Burke is a nationally certified Neonatal Nurse Practitioner who has dedicated her career to caring for critically ill neonates and advancing nursing education across all levels. She earned her PhD in Nursing from the University of Maryland School of Nursing (UMSON) and completed postdoctoral training in developmental genetics at Johns Hopkins University, where her research focused on neonatal brain injury, hypothermia and stem cell treatment.

Now a leader in academic nursing and competency-based education (CBE), Dr. Mueller-Burke serves as an Assistant Professor and chairs UMSON’s Curricular Revisions Taskforce, leading the transformation of programs to align with the 2021 AACN Essentials. She previously directed the transition of all advanced practice master’s specialties to the doctoral level. A catalyst for CBE innovation, she has helped ignite initiatives across Maryland and serves nationally as a consultant, AACN Essentials Champion and Coach, co-lead of the AACN Curricular Workgroup, and member of the NONPF Curricular Leadership Committee, shaping the future of nursing education through collaboration and curricular excellence.

Jacquelyn McMillian-Bohler, PhD, APRN 
Assistant Clinical Professor 
Director, Institute for Educational Excellence 
Duke University

Dr. Jacquelyn McMillian-Bohler is an Assistant Professor and the Director for Educational Excellence at the Duke University School of Nursing. She received a BSN from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, an MSN in Nurse-Midwifery from Vanderbilt U niversity, and a PhD in Nursing Education from Villanova University. Grounded by her Masterful Educator Model, she mentors faculty and presents nationally on faculty development, fostering inclusive learning environments, and employing impactful teaching strategies. Her efforts extend to guiding nursing programs toward competency-based education and researching effective teaching practices and health equity. Beyond academia, she advances health equity through Cultural Intelligence workshops and a culturally concordant doula training initiative. 

Speakers

Dawn Mueller-Burke, PhD, CRNP, NNP-BC 
Assistant Professor/Neonatal Nurse Practitioner 
University of Maryland Baltimore 
University of Maryland Medical Center

Dr. Mueller-Burke has a clinical focus in the Neonatal Intensive Care arena where she spent most of her career as a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Nursing (UMSON) PhD program with a focus in neonatal neurophysiology. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University in a developmental genetics laboratory with a focus in stem cell biology. Her research sought to better understand neonatal brain injury and to identify potential interventions, including hypothermia and stem cell therapy to improve outcomes after neonatal brain injury. She shifted her focus to leadership and educational-based endeavors once joining the faculty at the University of Maryland School of Nursing in 2004, where she teaches across degree programs, specifically in the NNP program. 

She is nationally certified as a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner, with a per diem practice in the NICU at the University of Maryland Medical Center. In 2011 she served as the Faculty Chair of the DNP Transition Task Force incorporating the AACN Essentials, leading all the APN Master’s specialties at UMSON to the doctorate (DNP) beginning Fall 2014. She is currently the Chair of the Curricular Revisions Taskforce at UMSON, transforming entry and advanced practice programs to the 2021 Essentials. As an AACN Essentials Champion and Coach, and the co-lead for the AACN Essentials Curricular Workgroup, as well as a member of the NONPF Curricular Leadership Committee, she is part of the national dialogue and consultant on curricular revisions and speaks at various venues around implementation of the AACN Essentials and the move to competency-based education. 

Jacquelyn McMillian-Bohler, PhD, APRN 
Assistant Clinical Professor 
Director, Institute for Educational Excellence 
Duke University

Dr. Jacqui McMillian-Bohler is an Assistant Professor and the Director for Educational Excellence at the Duke University School of Nursing. She received a BSN from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, an MSN in Nurse-Midwifery from Vanderbilt University, and a PhD in Nursing Education from Villanova University. Grounded by her Masterful Educator Model, she mentors faculty and presents nationally on faculty development, fostering inclusive learning environments, and employing impactful teaching strategies. Her efforts extend to guiding nursing programs toward competency-based education and researching effective teaching practices and health equity. Beyond academia, she advances health equity through Cultural Intelligence workshops and a culturally concordant doula training initiative. 

Speakers

Fara Bowler, DNP, APRN
Associate Professor, Assistant Dean of Clinical Simulation Science Sr. Director of Clinical Partnerships and Placements
University of Colorado Anschutz 

Dr. Fara Bowler is an Associate Professor at the University of Colorado College of Nursing, where she serves as Assistant Dean of Clinical Simulation Science and Senior Director of Clinical Partnership and Placements. A recognized leader in clinical and simulation-based education, she has advanced academic-clinical integration through her dual leadership roles. She is serving her second elected term on the INACSL Board of Directors, where she champions international member engagement through the International Community of Practice, and was an author of the 2021 INACSL Standards of Best Practice: Simulation?. Dr. Bowler has also contributed as a member of the Standards Committee, served as liaison to the Governance and Financial Oversight Committees, and was an early collaborator in developing INACSL’s innovative Healthcare Simulation Standards of Best Practice Endorsement™.

Ashley Franklin, PhD, RN
Polly & Tex Rankin Endowed Professor of Nursing  
Texas Christian University

Dr. Ashley Franklin serves INACSL as the Immediate Past President and liaison to the Healthcare Simulation Standards of Best Practice Endorsement™ Committee. Her experience as a simulation leader at Texas Christian University includes curriculum, faculty development, program evaluation, and competency assessment in formative simulation. Dr. Franklin is a past author of the Healthcare Simulation Standards of Best Practice®.

Speakers

Virginia Reising, DNP, RN, PHNA-BC
Associate Professor and Associate Chairperson
Rush University, College of Nursing

Dr. Virginia Reising is an Associate Professor and Associate Chairperson at Rush University in the Department of Community, Systems, and Mental Health Nursing where she teaches at the Masters and Doctoral level. She previously worked in the College of Nursing at University of Illinois Chicago where she served as Interim Associate Dean for Practice and Partnerships, Associate Department Head, and the primary investigator on a HRSA Behavioral Health Integration Collaborative Agreement which supported the implementation of an integrated model of behavioral health care at a nurse-led health federally qualified health center and community correctional setting.

Dr. Reising completed her Master of Nursing degree at Rush University with a concentration in advanced population health nursing and her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree at the University of Illinois Chicago. Her clinical experience spans hospital, primary care, and school settings. In 2018, she was named an Illinois Nurses Foundation 40 under 40 Emerging Nurse Leader and in 2022, she was named a Pinnacle Nurse Leader.

Kristin Ashford, PhD, WHNP-BC, FAAN
Associate Dean of Undergraduate Faculty & Interprofessional Education Affairs
Good Samaritan Professor for Community Nursing
University of Kentucky College of Nursing

Dr. Kristin Ashford is a professor at the University of Kentucky College of Nursing where she serves as the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs and Health Policy. As a fellow of the Center for Interdisciplinary Heath Education, she has led curricular transformation including integration of cognates and microcredentials. Presently, she drives innovative, impactful state-academic and community partnerships to transform healthcare for perinatal and parenting women as the Good Samaritan Endowed Chair of Community Nursing. She ha s led the creation of two perinatal substance use treatment (SUD) programs that bridge gaps and advance healthcare in SUD treatment for perinatal women.

As founder and Director of the Perinatal Research and Wellness Center, Ashford leads an interprofessional team to translate research into practice while informing policy makers on maternal and child health issues. She recently completed the Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowship in Washington DC, serving as a health policy fellow on the U.S. Committee for Energy and Commerce, Health subcommittee. Dr. Ashford received her BS at Washburn University in Kansas and completed her training as a board-certification Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner at the University of Louisville. She further completed her PhD and NIH postdoctoral fellowship and the Wharton Executive Nursing Leadership program.