Speakers

Jean Watson, PhD, RN, AHN-BC, FAAN, LL
Founder –Director
Watson Caring Science Institute

Dr. Jean Watson is known around the world for her Theory of Human Caring and advancement of Caring Science as disciplinary context for Nursing’s future. She is the Founder of the Non-profit, Watson Caring Science Institute and Distinguished Professor  Dean Emerita University of Colorado Denver. She is the author, co-author, or editor of over 30 books on Caring Science and Unitary Caring. Her latest book is titled Metaphysics of Unitary Caring Science. A Cosmology of Love, (2025 pub. by Springer).  Her work is used globally, promoting academic and clinical partnerships toward theory-guided caring science curriculum and professional Caritas Practice, Research, and Leadership. Watson is the recipient of numerous national and international awards and honors including 15 Honorary Doctorates; she is designated as a Living Legend by the American Academy of Nursing, its highest honor.  View full bio.

Sara Horton-Deutsch, PhD, RN, FAAN, ANEF, SGAHN
University of San Francisco
Director of USF/Kaiser Permanente Partnership and Faculty Associate
Watson Caring Science Institute

Dr. Horton-Deutsch has led in academic and practice settings for over 30 years as an advanced practice psychiatric/mental health nurse, teacher/practitioner, consultant, program director, caring science endowed chair, coach, and academic/practice partnership director. In 2022, she was inducted into the Global American Holistic Nursing. She has contributed to evidence-informed knowledge development throughout her academic and practice career to ensure compassionate, safe, an d quality care. As a reflective leader, she focuses on inward development to positively influence change. She has co-authored several books on Reflective Practice, Caring Science, and Caritas Coaching. She is a Caritas Coach & Leader, Reiki Practitioner, and Healing Circle Facilitator. Through her journey, she has learned the necessity of connecting to one’s inner sources of wisdom, power, and healing, as well as the arts and humanities that once defined the discipline of nursing. She is passionate about facilitating critical, deep, and authentic connections that support regeneration, renewal, and the profession’s evolution. Her latest books, Visionary Leadership in Healthcare (2022) and Reflective Practice: Reimagining Ourselves, Reimagining Nursing (2024), were published through SIGMA, the former winning an AJN 1st place book of the year award in Leadership. She is currently a champion for the ANCC Essentials within the USF School of Nursing and Health Professions. She is co-director of the Caritas Leadership Program for the Watson Caring Science Institute.

Danny G. Willis, DNS, RN, PMHCNS-BC, FAAN
Dean and Professor
University of Rhode Island College of Nursing

Dr. Danny G. Willis serves as Dean of the University of Rhode Island College of Nursing. He Caritas® Leader Faculty. In his 20-year academic career, he has served as Dean at Saint Louis University Valentine School of Nursing, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Nursing, and Department Chair at Boston College, Connell School of Nursing. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and has chaired the Expert Panel on Theory-Guided Practice and is a member of the Expert Panel on Violence. His program of research and scholarship primarily focuses on wellbeing and healing in the aftermath of traumatic experiences. His work has been recognized with many awards, including the Eastern Nursing Research Society "Rising Star" Award, American Psychiatric Nurses Association Nancy Valentine "Leadership" Award, and R-level research funding as Principal Investigator from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He has mentored undergraduate, masters, and PhD students from nursing, social work, child and human development, and counseling psychology. Dr. Willis has published widely in nursing and other health- related journals on qualitative research methods, foundations of the discipline, child maltreatment, the aftermath of hate crime, school children being bullied, child witness to violence, mental health, sleep, and healing. He has served as chair of the American Psychiatric Nursing Association (APNA) Research Council and currently co-chairs the Eastern Nursing Research Society (ENRS) Qualitative Research Interest Group. His publication explicating a central unifying focus for the discipline of nursing ‘facilitating humanization, meaning, choice, quality of life, and healing in living and dying,” published in Advances in Nursing Science, garnered national and international recognition for its relevance to nursing. Dr. Willis enthusiastically shares his work nationally and internationally with invited papers and presentations in the United States, Chile, Colombia, Ireland, England, Portugal, and Japan. 

Speakers

Noah Brown, MPA
Jonas Grant Manager
American Association of Colleges of Nursing

Marta Okoniewski, MPA
Director of Student Engagement
American Association of Colleges of Nursing

Speakers

Christy Haas-Howard, MPH, BSN, BA, RN, AE-C, NCSN
Program Director, Health
National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF)

Christy Haas-Howard oversees the development, execution, and evaluation of health initiatives related to the environment. She collaborates with the conservation and K-12 education teams to identify priority areas of common interest to maximize resources and impact. As an experienced health care provider, she tracks emerging trends in the health and environment space, recognizing and amplifying the opportunities to create greater health equity and environmental justice. Christy comes to NEEF with over 17 years as a registered nurse in the school setting. She has been asthma educator-certified since 2009 and has led various school-based asthma programs at the local and stat e level. She has also worked at the national level to cultivate an increase in school nurse’s knowledge and skills related to asthma care. Christy has presented and published on asthma and the upstream benefits of addressing environmental exposures and climate change. Her other previous projects include supporting a pilot air quality sensor network and health literacy project in Denver, CO, and implementing an air quality and asthma literacy Environmental Health Nurse Fellowship. Christy holds a BA in Economics from Claremont McKenna College, a BS in Nursing from Metropolitan State University, Denver, and a MPH from the Colorado School of Public Health. She enjoys gardening, playing games with her family, walking her dogs, and hiking in the beautiful Rocky Mountains.

Speakers

Andrea Novak, PhD, MSN, RN, NPD-BC, FAEN
Field Experience Coordinator/Adjunct Faculty
Aspen University

Dr. Andrea Novak is currently the Field Experience Coordinator and Adjunct Faculty for Aspen University. Her history in adult education spans over 30 years with most recently serving as an AHEC Nurse for about 23 years. Dr. Novak is a member of the NCNA Council on Gerontology and serves as a peer reviewer for NCNA’s CEAU Task Force as well as a Peer Reviewer for the Emergency Nurses Association Education Committee.

Her nursing background began as many of us did as a med-surg nurse which expanded to working in the emergency nursing arena and later as a nurse educator for a high-volume emergency department. Andrea is one of the North Carolina’s 100 Great Nurses, as well as a Fellow in the Academy of Emerg ency Nursing. She has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Emergency Nursing, the National AHEC Organization and currently on the Aspen Journal. A published author and national speaker, Dr. Novak also received training as a health literacy consultant through UNC Chapel Hill and developed a strong interest in both helping healthcare providers meet the literacy needs of their patients, especially those most vulnerable; the elderly. Dr. Novak holds a PhD in Public Health; community health and education from Walden University, two Masters Degrees, two bachelor degrees, and an ADN.

Speakers

Chika Anueyiagu, DNP, RN, NE-BC
Director of Surgical Services
Yale New Haven Hospital

Dr. Anueyiagu is the Director of Surgical Services at Yale New Haven Hospital with oversight of Inpatient surgical units including, surgical intensive care, trauma, intermediate care, bariatric, general surgery, vascular, and minimally invasive surgery units. She has leadership experience spanning over 20 years in several roles across specialties and settings. In these roles, she had the responsibility of alignment and executing strategic initiatives while ensuring excellent outcomes in nurse-sensitive indicators. Chika earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice Degree from Fairfield University in Executive Leadership. She obtained her Nurse Executive Board certification through the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

Patricia Span, PhD, RN, CPHQ, CENP
Strategy & Learning Specialist
Yale New Haven Hospital

Dr. Span is the Strategy & Learning Specialist at Yale New Haven Hospital Patient Services Administration with primary responsibility for development and oversight of the nursing strategic business plan and nursing communications comprised of the annual report and nursing news. She has extensive experience as a nurse leader in Education, Professional Practice, Quality, Nursing Research as well as organizational customer service strategies. Patricia received her Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing and is Board Certified in Executive Nursing Practice from the Association of Nurse Executives and credentialed in health care quality from the National Association of Health Care Quality.