Speakers

Kate Gawlik, DNP, APRN-CNP, FAAN, FNAP, FAANP
Associate Professor of Clinical Nursing
The Ohio State University

Dr. Kate Gawlik is an Associate Professor of Clinical Nursing, Director of Undergraduate Health and Wellness Academic Programming, and the Director of the Bachelor of Science in health and wellness program at The Ohio State University. She is a Family Nurse Practitioner and her areas of expertise are in wellness, cardiovascular prevention, parental burnout, and nursing education. She pioneered an online educational program, the Million Hearts Fellowship, for healthcare professionals that has resulted in the cardiovascular screening and education of over 110,000 people nationwide and has been embedded into nursing curricula across the U.S. This work has received four national awards, including m ost recently, the AACN’s Innovation in Professional Nursing Education Award. She is a Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, the National Academies of Practice, and the American Academy of Nursing. 

Bernadette Melnyk, PhD, APRN-CNP, FAAN, FAANP, FNAP
Professor and Dean Emeritus
The Ohio State University

Dr. Bernadette Melnyk is an inspirational speaker, author, leader, innovator, entrepreneur and recognized expert in evidence-based practice, mental health, population health and well-being, intervention research and organizational culture change. She also is CEO and founder of COPE2Thrive, LLC. For the past 13 years, she served as Vice President for Health Promotion and Chief Wellness Officer at The Ohio State University,  where she also was the Helene Fuld Health Trust Professor of Evidence-based Practice . She founde d the Helene Fuld Health Trust National Institute for Evidence-based Practice in Nursing and Healthcare.  Dr. Melnyk is editor of eight books and has over 600 publications and received more than $36 million dollars of sponsored funding from N IH, AHRQ, and foundations as a principal investigator. She is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Nursing that has recognized her three times as an Edge Runner, the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academies of Practice, and the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. Dr. Melnyk has served on several national advisory boards, including the United States Preventive Services Task Force, and led nursing colleges at Ohio State University and Arizona State University. She is currently the elected chair of the National Forum for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention and received honorary doctoral degrees from the State University of New York and Frontier Nursing University. Dr. Melnyk's COPE programs for depression and anxiety are used across 50 states and in several countries. She is editor-in-chief of Sigma’s top ranked journal Worldviews on Evidence-based Nursing and serves on the advisory board for the ANA’s Healthy Nu rse Healthy Nation initiative. 

Speakers

Rebecca Dodmead, MSN, RN
Administrative Nursing Supervisor
Ohio State University James Cancer Hospital

Rebecca Domead is a dedicated nurse with over 17 years of experience in various healthcare settings. Rebecca's journey in nursing has taken her through the fast-paced environment of the Emergency Room, Med-Surg, Telemetry, ICU, Hospital Clinical Education. With a passion for teaching and mentoring, she has also served as an Adjunct Clinical Instructor. Currently, Rebecca serves as an Administrative Nursing Supervisor at Ohio State University James Cancer Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Rebecca holds a Master's degree in Nursing Education and is part of the inaugural class of the 2025 Doctor of Nursing Education program at The Ohio State University.

Recently, Rebecca pursued additional education in Biomedical Visualization from the University of Glasgow, where she gained va luable insights into the intersection of healthcare and technology. She also completed a Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Certificate program from Massachusetts Institute of Technology XPRO. With her diverse background, advanced education, and unwavering dedication to understanding the intersection of healthcare and technology, Rebecca continues to make significant contributions to the field of nursing and healthcare education.

Speakers

Rebecca Dodmead, MSN, RN
Administrative Nursing Supervisor
Ohio State University James Cancer Hospital

Rebecca Dodmead is a dedicated nurse with over 17 years of experience in various healthcare settings. Rebecca's journey in nursing has taken her through the fast-paced environment of the Emergency Room, Med-Surg, Telemetry, ICU, Hospital Clinical Education. With a passion for teaching and mentoring, she has also served as an Adjunct Clinical Instructor. Currently, Rebecca serves as an Administrative Nursing Supervisor at Ohio State University James Cancer Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Rebecca holds a Master's degree in Nursing Education and is part of the inaugural class of the 2025 Doctor of Nursing Education program at The Ohio State University.

Recently, Rebecca pursued additional education in Biomedical Visualization from the University of Glasgow, where she gained valuable insights int o the intersection of healthcare and technology. She also completed a Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Certificate program from Massachusetts Institute of Technology XPRO. With her diverse background, advanced education, and unwavering dedication to understanding the intersection of healthcare and technology, Rebecca continues to make significant contributions to the field of nursing and healthcare education.

Speakers

Marc M. Triola, MD, FACP
Associate Professor of Medicine
Associate Dean for Educational Informatics
Director, Institute for Innovations in Medical Education
New York University

Dr. Triola is the associate dean for educational informatics and an associate professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health, where he is also the founding director of the Institute for Innovations in Medical Education, known as IIME.

Dr. Triola’s research focuses on the disruptive effects of the present revolution in medical education, driven by technological advances, big data, and learning analytics. He has worked to create a continuously learning medical education system that includes computer-based learning tools and new ways to integrate electronic data into educational research.

Dr. Triola and IIME have been funded by the National Institute s of Health, including the Integrated Advanced Information Management Systems (IAIMS) Awards program, the National Science Foundation Advanced Learning Technologies program, the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, and the American Medical Association’s Accelerating Change in Medical Education program.

In previous roles at NYU Langone, Dr. Triola served as director of the Division of Educational Informatics within NYU School of Medicine; chief of the Section of Medical Informatics within the Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine; associate director of the Center for Health Information Preparedness, Department of Medicine; and director of research for advanced educational systems within the School of Medicine.

Janelle Sokolowich, Ph.D., MSN/Ed, RN
Academic Vice President/Dean
Western Governors University

Janelle Sokolowich is the Ac ademic Vice President and Dean of the Leavitt School of Health. She has been an academic leader for over a decade, having held various roles, including dean of academic operations, interim dean, and faculty. Her research includes the successful orientation of nursing faculty and intentional, focused academic support of culturally and linguistically diverse students. Dr. Sokolowich has presented nationally and internationally, highlighting the use of technology in the classroom, non-academic support strategies for high-risk students, and cultural inclusivity in the classroom.

Speakers

Laurie Kennedy-Malone, PhD, GNP-BC, FAANP, FGSA, FAAN
Professor of Nursing
University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Laurie Kennedy-Malone has been a certified gerontological nurse practitioner since 1982 and a professor of nursing at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) since 1990. She was the 2007 recipient of the John A. Hartford Foundation Institute for Geriatric Nursing Faculty Champion and the National Conference of Gerontological Nurse Practitioners' Excellence in Education Award in 2006. In November 2018, she was awarded a Certificate of Recognition for Excellence as a Distinguished Educator in Gerontological Nursing by the National Hartford Center of Gerontological Nursing Excellence. She coauthored Integrating Gerontological Content into Advanced Practice Nursing Education and Advanced Practice Nursi ng in the Care of Older Adults. Both books received AJN Book of the Year Awards. She has authored over 40 peer-reviewed publications. A former president of the National Conference of Gerontological Nurse Practitioners, she later served as a Director at Large of the Gerontological Advanced Practice Nurses Association (GAPNA). In 2020, Dr. Kennedy-Malone received the Excellence in Leadership Award from GAPNA and, in 2021, the Excellence in Creativity & Innovation, Edith Moore Copeland Founders Award from Sigma Theta Tau International. Dr. Kennedy-Malone is a recent recipient of the AACN Faculty Scholars Grant Program for her work on Enhancing Nurse Practitioner Competency-Based Education and Assessment with Innovative Video Simulations.

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