Speakers

Gerry Altmiller, EdD, APRN, ACNS-BC, ANEF, FAAN
Professor
Director, Quality and Safety Innovation Center
School of Nursing, Health, and Exercise Science
The College of New Jersey

Gerry Altmiller is a professor of nursing, a clinical nurse specialist consultant for Jefferson Einstein Healthcare Network in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and director of the Quality and Safety Innovation Center at The College of New Jersey. She served on the QSEN Advisory board for over a decade and for 7 years led the QSEN Academic Task Force, creating opportunities for its 120 faculty members to network, share ideas, and conduct academic focused research.

Dr. Altmiller authored the Teamwork and Communication Module of the National Council of State Boards of Nursing’s Transition to Practice program and in 2014 she received a Lindback Award for distinguished teaching. Her work on constructive feedback led to the development, testing, and dissemination of support tools for nurse educators and learning tools for students to view feedback as an opportunity. Dr. Altmiller serves on the editorial board for Nurse Educator Journal. She is a member of the AACN workgroups that developed the toolkits to support adoption of the 2021 AACN Essentials and serves as an AACN Coach for implementation of the Essentials. Her research focuses on clinical evaluation, quality and safety integration, and creating a just culture in academia.

Speakers

Michael Ackerman, PhD, RN, FCCM, FNAP, FAANP, FAAN
Director, Center for Healthcare Innovation and Leadership
The Ohio State University

Michael Ackerman is currently the Director of the Master in Healthcare Innovation Program and Professor of Clinical Nursing, and the Director of the Center for Healthcare Innovation and Leadership at the Ohio State University College of Nursing. He also maintains a clinical practice as an acute care nurse practitioner at St Joseph’s Neighborhood in Rochester, NY. He is also the Owner of Ackerman Consultants.Dr. Ackerman has held just about every position a nurse could hold in academia and clinical practice, from candy striper to senior director. His entire career has been dedicated to critical care, with numerous publications as well as invitations to speak nationally and internationally. His research and writing have focused on a variety of clinical topics, including sepsis, airway management, hemodynamics, innovation, and leadership. His innovative work has led to many disruptions in clinical practice and health system change. He has been recognized for his various contributions with various fellowships, including Fellow in Critical Care Medicine, Fellow in the National Academy of Practice, Fellow in the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, and The American Academy of Nursing.

Stephanie Justice, DNP, RN, CHSE
Assistant Clinical Professor
The Ohio State University

Dr. Stephanie Justice is an Assistant Clinical Professor at The Ohio State University College of Nursing. She worked in the simulation lab for several years and served as the Graduate Simulation Coordinator. She helped to plan and currently works in the XR lab, teaches courses, and is part of the Center for Healthcare Innovation and Leadership. She is a Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator (CHSE), virtual reality educator, and moulage artist. She volunteers with the Central American Medical Associati on (CAMO), co-chairs Champions in Higher Education for XR (CHEX), and is a faculty advisor for Buck-I-SERV alternative break trips to Antigua, Guatemala, and Akokwa, Ghana. Dr. Justice participated in the National League for Nursing (NLN) Sim Leaders program in 2022. Dr. Justice is working on several grants, including the Disrupting Nursing Education Using Extended Reality (XR), Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning grant sponsored by the American Nurses Foundation Reimagining Nursing Initiative.

Speakers

Rebecca C. Mueller, PhD, RN, CRNP, FNP-BC
Associate Professor
Neumann University

Dr. Rebecca C. Mueller is an associate professor of nursing at Neumann University. Prior to joining Neumann, she was employed as a primary care family nurse practitioner in Philadelphia, PA and Las Vegas, NV. In addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate nursing students, she works as a nurse practitioner at Swarthmore College’s Student Health and Wellness clinic providing primary care to a college-aged population. Dr. Mueller received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Villanova University, a Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing from Villanova University. She is passionate about the care of adolescents, young adults, and vulnerable populations. After earning her BSN, she spent a year of service with the Augustinian Volunteers program working as a nurse in a free clinic in San Diego, CA. Her background also includes medical-surgical nursing, home health, and community-based nursing. Her passion for equitable health care has translated to research at Neumann to develop and implement curricula focused on caring for patients who are LGBTQ. Dr. Mueller serves on the board of the Southeastern Pennsylvania College Health Nurses Association, and is an active member of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, earning an AANP and Sigma Theta Tau research grant in 2022.

Speakers

Nancy O'Neill, EdD
Acting Director, William E. Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation
University System of Maryland (USM)

Nancy O'Neill joined the USM Kirwan Center in February 2016. At the Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation, she coordinates the System’s teaching and learning center directors and plans capacity-building initiatives with and for faculty development leaders across the System. She also supports Kirwan Center initiatives that directly engage faculty and academic leaders, including efforts to scale and sustain open educational resources. Previously, she served as the Director of the Center for Excellence in Learning, Teaching, and Technology at the University of Baltimore for four years. Her work focused on supporting faculty innovation in teaching as well as curriculum development and alignment, student learning assessment, and institutional effectiveness. In her last year there, she helped guide the University’s general education reform and institutional assessment efforts ahead of re-accreditation. Prior to this, Nancy spent a decade at what is now the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), contributing to national projects related to high-impact practices, undergraduate curriculum and quality, student learning outcomes assessment, institutional renewal, and diversity and equity initiatives. Nancy earned a doctorate in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania, a master's degree in American Studies and a master's degree in College Student Personnel from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a bachelor's degree in journalism and social criticism from the University of Buffalo. Her dissertation examined faculty use of open educational resources (OER) in relation to the content and teaching affordances made possible by open licensing.

Speakers

Dawn Mueller-Burke, PhD, CRNP, NNP-BC
Assistant Professor/Neonatal Nurse Practitioner
University of Maryland Baltimore
University of Maryland Medical Center

Dr. Mueller-Burke has a clinical focus in the Neonatal Intensive Care arena where she spent most of her career as a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Nursing (UMSON) PhD program with a focus in neonatal neurophysiology. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University in a developmental genetics laboratory with a focus in stem cell biology. Her research sought to better understand neonatal brain injury and to identify potential interventions, including hypothermia and stem cell therapy to improve outcomes after neonatal brain injury. She shifted her focus to leadership and educational-based endeavors once joining the faculty at the University of Maryland School of Nursing in 2004 where she teaches across degree programs, specifically in the NNP program. She is nationally certified as a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner, with a per diem practice in the NICU at the University of Maryland Medical Center. In 2011 she served as the Faculty Chair of the DNP Transition Task Force incorporating the AACN Essentials, leading all the APN Master’s specialties at UMSON to the doctorate (DNP) beginning Fall 2014. She is currently the Chair of the New Essentials Curricular Revisions Taskforce at UMSON, with a targeted implementation of the graduate programs in the Fall of 2024.