Speakers

Carla D. Sanderson, PhD, RN
Provost
Chamberlain University

Carla Sanderson has forty years of leadership experience with global reach and impact in higher education and healthcare through academic leadership and board membership. Carla’s career motivation has been under-resourced patients and students, bringing expertise in regulation, ethics, and the development of people and programs to bear on advancing the well-being of others. Recognized as a mission-driven leader, Carla is an ambassador for educational justice in higher education. Carla is Provost, Chamberlain University which grants nursing, public health and social work degrees. Chamberlain awards the highest number of Bachelor of Science in Nursing degrees to under-represented minorities in the U.S. She has responsibility for academic programs, including the implementation of innovative academic technologies for personalized learning and assessment, and leads the regulatory team in meeting compliance standards for all 50 Boards of Nursing and 6 healthcare program accreditors. She leads an institutional effectiveness and research team that has developed a Social Determinants of Learning™ framework and has implemented highly effective predictive modeling in support of student success.

Linda M. Hollinger-Smith, PhD, RN, FAAN, ANEF
Associate Provost
Office of Institutional Effectiveness, Accreditation, and Research
Chamberlain University

Dr. Linda Hollinger-Smith is the Associate Provost, Office of Institutional Effectiveness, Accreditation, and Research at Chamberlain University. Prior to joining Chamberlain, Dr. Hollinger-Smith led Mather LifeWays Institute on Aging as Vice President focused on improving the quality of gerontological nursing care through applied research programs. Other past positions included Assistant Dean at Rush University College of Nursing; Director of Nursing at the Rush Primary Care Institute; and Associate Chairperson of Adult Health Nursing, Rush University Medical Center. Dr. Hollinger-Smith has served as principal investigator on numerous public and privately funded studies totaling more than $8 million to support nursing workforce and faculty development efforts. She has published numerous articles and has presented her research nationally on topics including nursing workforce development, trends in senior living, long-term care workforce culture, family caregiving, gerontological nursing, and faculty development. She is a fellow of both the American Academy of Nursing and the Academy of Nursing Education.

Kenya V. Beard, EdD, AGACNP-BC, CNE, ANEF, FAAN
Associate Provost Social Mission & Academic Excellence
Chamberlain University

Kenya V. Beard is the Associate Provost for Social Mission and Academic Excellence at Chamberlain University. As a 2012 Macy Faculty Scholar, she focused on increasing workforce diversity and strengthening educational equity. Dr. Beard has consulted with numerous schools across the country on ways to strengthen diversity. She led the New York State Action Coalition in constructing the state’s 2014 Workforce Diversity Toolkit and contributed to the National League for Nursing’s 2016 Diversity Vision Statement. She co-created the Josiah Macy Foundation’s 2018 ground-breaking document, Improving the Environment for Learning in the Health Professions and more recently, co-authored the publication, Racism and the Diversity Policy Paradox: Implications for Nurse Leaders to help strengthen diversity in higher education.

Karen Cox, PhD, RN, FACHE, FAAN
President
Chamberlain University

Dr. Karen Cox is the President of Chamberlain University since 2018. She is responsible for managing all undergraduate and graduate programs, which includes over 20 campuses in 15 states, as well as online programs. Prior to joining Chamberlain, Dr. Cox served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Children’s Mercy – Kansas City, an independent, academic medical center. Dr. Cox led the organization to receive Magnet designation by The American Nurses Credentialing Center, becoming the first hospital in Missouri, and the region, in 2003 to receive such recognition when she was Senior Vice President for Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer. Dr. Cox was named a Fellow in the Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellowship Program (1999-2002) and was appointed to a term on the National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice, U.S. Health and Human Services (2006-2011).

Speakers

Tamara Martinez-Anderson
University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, Director of Admissions

Tamara Martinez-Anderson has spent her 20-year career in higher education as an admissions professional. Early in her career, as an assistant dean at Gonzaga University School of Law she was involved in developing processes that moved the review of law school applications from a metrics-heavy emphasis to one that valued a holistic review of a candidate’s experiences, personal attributes, and professional competencies.

In her current role as the Director of Admissions at the University of Nevada, Reno, School of Medicine (UNR Med), Martinez-Anderson oversees pipeline development initiatives aimed at creating a more diverse and prepared applicant pool. She directs a highly holistic review process built on a rubric that evaluates each candidate on ten essential competencies based upon the institutional mission and values at UNR Med. In addition, she is responsible for the delivery of over 330 Multi-Mini Interviews each year and unconscious bias training for over 200 MMI interviewers and all members of the admission staff and committee.

Martinez-Anderson has served as a consultant with the AACN and has been part of the team delivering Holistic Admissions Review Workshops.

Speakers

Carolyn A. Chow, M.A.
Holistic Admissions in Academic Nursing Consultant
American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN)

Carolyn Chow, M.A. strategized and led fair and defensible holistic admissions processes for all degree programs at the University of Washington School of Nursing from 1999 to 2018 as the Director of Admissions and Student Diversity. She oversaw student outreach and recruiting from K-12 through prospective students wishing to pursue their BSN, MS, DNP, PhD Degrees and Graduate Certificates in Advanced Practice Nursing.

In leading UW’s admissions, outreach, and enrollment efforts, Carolyn ensured that the School of Nursing was among the most diverse Schools on the UW campus. She is passionate about equity and inclusion efforts and served as the SoN’s representative to the UW Diversity Council, was an active member of the SoN Diversity Committee from 1999-2018 (chair from 2005-2006), and the Graduate Opportunities and Minority Achievement Program Advisory Board. Carolyn advised and mentored the student-led organizations including SoN Queers & Allies and SoN Diversity Awareness Group. She was also the co-founder and director of UW Nurse Camp, the SoN’s premier high school pipeline and mentorship program for underrepresented and first-generation high school students interested in nursing. She also co-founded of the Western Washington Chapter of National Association of Hispanic Nurses. She has been an active leader in the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Leadership Network Graduate Nursing Admissions Professionals (GNAP).

Carolyn currently resides in Ithaca, NY and serves as an AACN Holistic Admissions in Academic Nursing consultant. She brings a wealth of expertise regarding holistic admissions review practices in schools of nursing

Speaker

Barbara J Ochester, MSN, RN
Clinical Director
Salvera Medical Cannabis Dispensary
Faculty
Aspen University

Barbara has been an RN for 48 years, acquiring an ADN, BSN, and MSN over the years. Barbara teaches Community Health, Nursing Leadership and Health Assessment at the University level in addition to her duties as the Clinical Director of Salvera Medical Cannabis Dispensary in Bowie Maryland. In this role she conducts clinical conversations and assessments with each new patient that comes to the dispensary. The facility is a very medical model and each patient is given the opportunity to work with Barbara and her staff to determine the correct medicine for their symptoms or diseases. Currently Barbara is pursuing her Doctorate in Health Administration and Leadership with a focus on cannabis research and the dispensary experience. Education remains a top priority, teaching medical professionals, patients and caregivers what is available, what works, how to access, and how to use cannabis and cannabinoid products. Under Barbara’s leadership there is ongoing research with our cannabis patients looking at their experiences and how cannabis works to alleviate symptoms. There is a goal to contribute to the body of knowledge that is building on what we know about using cannabis as an alternative/adjunct to traditional treatments and medications. For instance, the dispensary has many patients that are treating their chronic pain with opioids and are desperate to discontinue them. The introduction of cannabis into their regimen has been highly successful for these patients. The possibilities are endless and yet the education is lacking. This is Barbara’s mission!