Susan Hassmiller is currently serving as the Senior Scholar-In-Residence and Senior Adviser to the President on Nursing at the National Academy of Medicine from January 2019 through August 2021. In this role, she is serving as a key member of the leadership team for the Future of Nursing 2030 report. She is also the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Senior Adviser for Nursing, and in partnership with AARP, Hassmiller also directs the Foundation’s Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action. This 50-state and District of Columbia effort strives to implement the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine’s report on The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health and will additionally seek to build a Culture of Health. Hassmiller served as the report’s study director.

Hassmiller’s work has included service in public health settings at the local, state and national levels, including HRSA. She taught community health nursing at the University of Nebraska and George Mason University in Virginia.

Dr. Susan Bakewell-Sachs is a nationally recognized scholar and clinical expert in the care of prematurely born infants, as well as a distinguished leader in academic nursing. Prior to assuming her current role at OHSU in 2013, she served as nursing faculty at the University of Pennsylvania; program director, professor and dean at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) School of Nursing, Health & Exercise Science; and Interim Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at TCNJ. A strong nurse advocate, she was the director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) New Jersey Nursing Initiative, chair of the New Jersey Association of Baccalaureate and Higher Degree Programs, member of the March of Dimes National Nursing Advisory Council, and on the steering committee of the Oregon Action Coalition. Dr. Bakewell-Sachs was an RWJF Executive Nurse Fellow, Cohort 2007, where her leadership development project focused on strategic effectiveness and nursing education.

Susan Swider is a Professor in the Department of Community, Systems and Mental Health Nursing at Rush University in Chicago. Dr. Swider has practiced in acute care, home health care and public health settings over the past thirty years. Her research has focused on program development and evaluation of community health workers, engaging urban communities in health promotion, and health policy to support health promotion efforts. She has taught public health nursing at the pre-licensure and graduate/specialty level at several universities, and co-directed 10 years of HRSA supported work to develop an online doctoral program in Advanced Public Health Nursing, ensuring that it met the Quad Council competencies for Public Health Nursing practice. She is a member of a number of public health and public health nursing organizations and is a past president of the Association of Community Health Nursing Educators (ACHNE). In her role with ACHNE, she served on the Quad Council for Public Health Nursing organizations and was a member of the Task Force that revised the Competencies for Public Health Nursing (2010-2012). In 2011, Dr. Swider was appointed by President Obama to the Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion and Integrative and Public Health, a group designed to advise on the development and implementation of the National Prevention Strategy. She is also a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and of the Institute of Medicine of Chicago. In 2016, she was appointed to serve on the Community Preventive Services Task Force of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Michelle Heyland is a board certification psychiatric & mental health nurse practitioner with 8 years of experience as a nurse practitioner and 13 years as a nurse working in mental health overall. She has worked in a variety of inpatient and outpatient settings, currently working at a community mental health center and operating her own private practice. She is also director of the PMHNP program at Rush University College of Nursing and an Associate Professor. Her area of scholarship is emergency department diversion of people in mental health crisis. She has worked extensively with the Living Room model, which provides a community based crisis respite center for people experiencing psychiatric emergencies.

Elizabeth A. Loomis is an Assistant Professor at Eastern Michigan University, School of Nursing and a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner. Dr. Loomis received her DNP at Rush University in Transformative Leadership: Population Health. In addition to teaching full time, Dr. Loomis practices part-time in an OB/GYN office. Her clinical interests include safe opioid prescribing, and the primary care of women, specifically working with adolescents and young adults regarding safe sex practices and STD prevention.

Dr. Mary Ann Siciliano McLaughlin has been the ABSN Program Director and an Assistant Professor of Nursing in the Frances M. Maguire School of Nursing and Health Professions since August of 2017. Dr. McLaughlin earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) Degree from the University of Pennsylvania; her Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) Degree in Adult Health and Illness, Cardiopulmonary Clinical Nurse Specialist, from the University of Pennsylvania; and her Doctorate in Education, in Nursing Leadership and Organization, from Teachers College at Columbia University.

Dr. McLaughlin is a member of the Xi, Alpha Zeta, and Iotta Kappa chapters of Sigma Theta Tau, the National Honor Society for Nurses; the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN); the AACN Faculty Leadership Network; the National League for Nursing (NLN); the American Nurses Association (ANA); the New Jersey State Nurses Association; and the Nursing Education Alumni Association (NEAA) of Teachers College at Columbia University.

Dr. McLaughlin’s areas of experience and expertise include: cardiac nursing, medical surgical nursing, education, publishing, NCLEX, disease management, telehealth, nursing management, professionalism, leadership, and ethics.

Dr. McLaughlin’s scholarship interests include publications and presentations related to cardiac nursing, medical surgical nursing, NCLEX, professionalism, and ethics. The main focus of her scholarship now revolves around ethical practice in nursing. She has had opportunities to present locally, nationally, and internationally relating to her scholarship on ethics and her model, the Siciliano-McLaughlin Model of Ethics.

Dr. Tyshaneka Saffold is an Assistant Professor at the Rutgers University School of Nursing-Camden. Dr. Saffold is an advocate who is passionate about improving the health of those in underserved populations. Her core values shape her philosophy of nursing: everyone deserves to be treated with kindness and compassion regardless of race or socioeconomic status. Her service relates closely to her commitment to ensure fair and equitable service to all regardless of their income level. Dr. Saffold volunteers both locally and internationally, providing free health and education services to community members.

Dr. Saffold's program of research is health disparities in urban populations; prevention of both social and racial injustice; impact of poverty on health; and improving the health of vulnerable populations. Dr. Saffold has been a nurse for 18 years, with clinical expertise in the areas of cardiac care, community health, nursing education, geriatrics, and leadership. Currently, her research centers on social determinants of health; particularly health disparities, social injustice, racial injustice, and inequalities in healthcare.

Dr. Shelley Johnson holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in nursing, and a doctorate in educational leadership. She also completed certificate programs from Harvard University in educational leadership and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and a Community Participatory Research Fellowship at University of Pennsylvania. She is dedicated to lifelong learning and was graduated from Northwestern University’s, Kellogg School of Management’s Executive MBA program. Dr. Johnson lives servant leadership. She serves as subject matter expert and participates in research related to healthy educational environments, health disparities, cultural diversity, advocacy, leadership, and nursing education.

Dr. Alejandro is the Interim Assistant Director for the ADN and RN-to-BSN Programs and Assistant Professor at Mount St. Mary’s University - Los Angeles. Jose currently serves as a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army Reserve and will complete his Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program in June.

As a bilingual, Hispanic male, Dr. Alejandro has first-hand experience of the need to improve diversity in the nursing profession. He has devoted his professional career to being a servant leader with a passion to develop strategies and pathways that improve diversity in nursing pedagogy and evidenced-based clinical and pedagogical practice. He has extensive experience in working and collaborating with at-risk populations.

In addition to Sigma Treasurer (2019-2023), he is active in other professional associations which include serving as Immediate Past President (2020-2021) of the Case Management Society of America (CMSA), Board Member (2019-2021) for the American Academy of Nursing and (appointed) American Association of Men in Nursing (AAMN). Dr. Alejandro also served as the 15th President (2012-2014) of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses.

He was awarded the CMSA’s Case Manager of the Year in 2015 and the AAMN Luther Christman Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021. Dr. Alejandro is a Sigma and Virginia Henderson Fellow of Sigma; Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing; and Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Dr. Lovoria B. Williams is an associate professor in the College of Nursing and Graduate Studies. She is the Director of the Community Health Advocacy iNterventions Generating Equity (CHANGE) Team and the Assistant Director for Cancer Health Equity at the NCI-designated Markey Cancer Center where she holds the endowed Research Professorship in Cancer Health Equity. Dr. Williams received her undergraduate degrees in nursing from Union University and the Medical College of Georgia. She earned a Master’s of Nursing [Family Nurse Practitioner] from Georgia Southern University and a PhD in Nursing with Distinction from Georgia Regents University. Her research aims to advance health equity among racial/ethnic minority and medically underserved populations through community engaged research methods to affect improved diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer outcomes. She is an NIH-funded nurse scientist who is nationally-recognized for developing culturally-adapted interventions for implementation by community health workers in church settings. A strong advocate for diversity, inclusivity and equity, Dr. Williams served the Lexington Mayor as Co-Chair of the Health Disparities Subcommittee on the Mayor’s Commission on Racial Justice & Equality. She also serves on the University of Kentucky UNITed in Racial Equity (UNITE) Research Priority Area Internal Advisory Board and on the Kentucky Nurses Action Coalition (KNAC) External Advisory Committee. She is a member of multiple professional organizations such as the American Nurses Association, the Southern Nursing Research Society where she serves on the Board of Directors and she is President of the Lexington KY Chapter of the National Black Nurses Association.

Dr. Regina S. Eddie is an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing at Northern Arizona University. She is an enrolled tribal member of the Diné (Navajo) Nation of Arizona. Dr. Eddie received her PhD from the University of New Mexico and is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nursing and Health Policy Collaborative fellow. Her nursing background and experience has primarily been in areas of community heath and public health nursing in rural, underserved American Indian communities. As a Diné nurse researcher, Dr. Eddie’s research focuses on American Indian health disparities, school health and wellness policies and practices, and tribal health policy research.

As an educator, she is committed to increasing recruitment and retention of Native American youth into health careers. Dr. Eddie coordinates a ‘Health Profession’ campus visit day for Native American youth from rural remote reservation schools with the goal to increase preparation and interest among Native American youth in the health professions. She also facilitates public health nursing practicums in AI reservation communities for hands-on experiences in working with AI populations, while helping to serve the health needs of rural medically underserved areas, particularly in Navajo communities.