Speakers

Gregory Knapik, PhD, DNP, MA, PMHCNSBC, ANP-BC
Associate Professor of Nursing
Notre Dame College

Dr. Gregory Knapik has been an RN since 1984 working in a variety of settings, mostly primary care and psych/mental health in Cleveland and Akron, in northeast Ohio. He has his doctorates in nursing (DNP, PhD), and has ANCC certifications as a CNS in psych/mental health and ANP (Adult Nurse Practitioner). Gregory has worked as an advanced practice nurse in primary care and/or mental health since 1998 along with teaching either FT or PT. He helped operate an academic and urban-based free healthcare clinic, managed by advanced practice nurses. Gregory most recently worked (clinically-based) in home health care managing pts in their home, group home, assisted living, and other community-based facilities. Gregory also benefits from the privilege of having gone on 6 health-related mission trips to Central America.

He tries to incorporate the "holistic" approach of considering the body, mind, and spirit in each patient encounter, and treat or care for the person, not the disease or disorder. He has also taught for about 12 years in several places and capacities in the discipline of nursing. He values the experience, knowledge, and wisdom of the students he has in class, and appreciate comments, anecdotes, and experiences shared in the lived experience of nursing. He values the importance of research and ongoing evidence-based practice, along with adaptability and “thinking outside the box.”

Sr. Anne Victory, MSN, RN
Leadership Team Member
Sisters of the Humility of Mary

Sr. Anne Victory is currently serving as a member of the Leadership Team of the Sisters of the Humility of Mary. She served as Director of Education for the Collaborative to End Human Trafficking, Cleveland, OH from 2010-2021 and is now a volunteer for the organization. A nurse by profession, she served for 32 years as a clinician, educator, and administrator in nursing and as Vice President for Mission and Director of Staff Education at St. Joseph Hospital, Lorain, OH, (now named Mercy Health and part of the Bon Secours Mercy Health System). Sr. Anne is one of the founding members of the Alliance to End Human Trafficking (formerly US Catholic Sisters Against Human Trafficking) and past president of the board. She has given presentations to a wide variety of audiences on the issue of human trafficking. One of the lenses through which Anne views human trafficking is as a public health issue--one that requires a collaborative, trauma-based approach involving multiple systems and service providers. She holds a BSN from St. John College, Cleveland, and a MS in Nursing from Ohio State University.

Kathleen Hackett, MSN, RN, SANE-P
Forensic Program Coordinator
UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital

Kathleen Hackett has been a nurse for over 30 years with 20 years of emergency room experience, and is certified through the International Association of Forensic Nurses as a pediatric sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE-P). Kathleen is currently the Pediatric Forensic Program Coordinator for University Hospitals, Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital since its launch in 2010, in Cleveland, OH. Kathleen earned her Master of Science in Nursing (Forensic Track) at Cleveland State University in 2017. Kathleen provides ongoing education within her medical facility, and area undergraduate and graduate programs on such topics as sexual abuse/assault, human trafficking, non-fatal strangulation, and trauma-informed care, for medical students, physicians, and nurses. Kathleen also collaborates with community partners to provide better-quality care for pediatric victims of crime.

Speakers

Maja Djukic, PhD, RN, FAAN
Assistant Dean for Research
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

Djukic joined the Cizik School of Nursing on Sept. 1, 2020, as the John P. McGovern Distinguished Associate Professor in the Department of Research. She is a widely published nurse scientist who has pioneered national research of new graduate nurses to identify key gaps in quality and safety competencies essential for high-value patient care. The more than $7 million in extramural funding she has secured in the past decade includes three current studies on which she serves as primary investigator that examine various issues affecting the nursing workforce.

Earlier in her career, Djukic received two prestigious career development awards – the Robert Wood Johnson Nurse Faculty Scholar Award and the Josiah Macy Junior Foundation Faculty Scholar Award. She was elected co-chair of the Interdisciplinary Group on Nursing Issues (IRGNI) at Academy Health and is currently an Associate Editor for the Policy, Politics, & Nursing Practice journal.

Prior to joining Cizik School of Nursing, Djukic was an associate professor at New York University College of Nursing, where she earned a PhD in Nursing and a Master of Science in Nursing Education. She began her nursing career Oklahoma, receiving an Associate Degree in Nursing from Tulsa Community College and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from North Eastern State University

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 Nursing 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.

.

Speaker

Jemma Ayvazian, DNP, ANP-BC, AOCNP
Director of Nursing Education
Office of Academic Affiliations (14AA)
Department of Veterans Affairs

Dr. Jemma Ayvazian is the National Director of Nursing Education at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington, DC. In this role, she assumes responsibility for all Veterans Affairs academic nursing education programs, including more than 25,000 nursing trainees annually. Dr. Ayvazian received her Doctorate of Nursing Practice degree from Johns Hopkins University. She completed her Masters of Science in Nursing and Post-Master’s Certificate in Teaching at Boston College. She decided to dedicate her professional life to supporting veterans and their families upon completing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts.

Dr. Ayvazian is board-certified in Primary Care, Oncology, and Pain Management and served multiple roles at the Veterans Health Administration, with both clinical and administrative responsibilities. She worked at the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Bedford, Massachusetts, and served as a Pain Management and Traumatic Brain Injury Nurse Practitioner and Program Coordinator in the Polytrauma Clinic at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Dayton, Ohio. She assumed clinical and program coordination responsibilities as an Oncology Nurse Practitioner at the Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center before transitioning to the VA Central Office.Dr. Ayvazian received numerous performance and academic excellence and achievement awards during her career, including Jonas Veterans Healthcare and Bob Woodruff Foundation Scholar Awards.