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 Curricular Revisions Taskforce at UMSON, transforming entry and advanced practice programs to the 2021 Essentials. As an AACN Essentials Champion and Coach, and the co-lead for the AACN Essentials Curricular Workgroup, as well as a member of the NONPF Curricular Leadership Committee, she is part of the national dialogue and consultant on curricular revisions and speaks at various venues around implementation of the AACN Essentials and the move to competency-based education. 

Jacquelyn McMillian-Bohler, PhD, APRN 
Assistant Clinical Professor 
Director, Institute for Educational Excellence 
Duke University

Dr. Jacqui McMillian-Bohler is an Assistant Professor and the Director for Educational Excellence at the Duke University School of Nursing. She received a BSN from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, an MSN in Nurse-Midwifery from Vanderbilt University, and a PhD in Nursing Education from Villanova University. Grounded by her Masterful Educator Model, she mentors faculty and presents nationally on faculty development, fostering inclusive learning environments, and employing impactful teaching strategies. Her efforts extend to guiding nursing programs toward competency-based education and researching effective teaching practices and health equity. Beyond academia, she advances health equity through Cultural Intelligence workshops and a culturally concordant doula training initiative. 

Speakers

Fara Bowler, DNP, APRN
Associate Professor, Assistant Dean of Clinical Simulation Science Sr. Director of Clinical Partnerships and Placements
University of Colorado Anschutz 

Dr. Fara Bowler is an Associate Professor at the University of Colorado College of Nursing, where she serves as Assistant Dean of Clinical Simulation Science and Senior Director of Clinical Partnership and Placements. A recognized leader in clinical and simulation-based education, she has advanced academic-clinical integration through her dual leadership roles. She is serving her second elected term on the INACSL Board of Directors, where she champions international member engagement through the International Community of Practice, and was an author of the 2021 INACSL Standards of Best Practice: Simulation?. Dr. Bowler has also contributed as a member of the Standards Committee, served as liaison to the Governance and Financial Oversight Committees, and was an early collaborator in developing INACSL’s innovative Healthcare Simulation Standards of Best Practice Endorsement™.

Ashley Franklin, PhD, RN
Polly & Tex Rankin Endowed Professor of Nursing  
Texas Christian University

Dr. Ashley Franklin serves INACSL as the Immediate Past President and liaison to the Healthcare Simulation Standards of Best Practice Endorsement™ Committee. Her experience as a simulation leader at Texas Christian University includes curriculum, faculty development, program evaluation, and competency assessment in formative simulation. Dr. Franklin is a past author of the Healthcare Simulation Standards of Best Practice®.

Speakers

Virginia Reising, DNP, RN, PHNA-BC
Associate Professor and Associate Chairperson
Rush University, College of Nursing

Dr. Virginia Reising is an Associate Professor and Associate Chairperson at Rush University in the Department of Community, Systems, and Mental Health Nursing where she teaches at the Masters and Doctoral level. She previously worked in the College of Nursing at University of Illinois Chicago where she served as Interim Associate Dean for Practice and Partnerships, Associate Department Head, and the primary investigator on a HRSA Behavioral Health Integration Collaborative Agreement which supported the implementation of an integrated model of behavioral health care at a nurse-led health federally qualified health center and community correctional setting.

Dr. Reising completed her Master of Nursing degree at Rush University with a concentration in advanced population health nursing and her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree at the University of Illinois Chicago. Her clinical experience spans hospital, primary care, and school settings. In 2018, she was named an Illinois Nurses Foundation 40 under 40 Emerging Nurse Leader and in 2022, she was named a Pinnacle Nurse Leader.

Kristin Ashford, PhD, WHNP-BC, FAAN
Associate Dean of Undergraduate Faculty & Interprofessional Education Affairs
Good Samaritan Professor for Community Nursing
University of Kentucky College of Nursing

Dr. Kristin Ashford is a professor at the University of Kentucky College of Nursing where she serves as the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs and Health Policy. As a fellow of the Center for Interdisciplinary Heath Education, she has led curricular transformation including integration of cognates and microcredentials. Presently, she drives innovative, impactful state-academic and community partnerships to transform healthcare for perinatal and parenting women as the Good Samaritan Endowed Chair of Community Nursing. She ha s led the creation of two perinatal substance use treatment (SUD) programs that bridge gaps and advance healthcare in SUD treatment for perinatal women.

As founder and Director of the Perinatal Research and Wellness Center, Ashford leads an interprofessional team to translate research into practice while informing policy makers on maternal and child health issues. She recently completed the Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowship in Washington DC, serving as a health policy fellow on the U.S. Committee for Energy and Commerce, Health subcommittee. Dr. Ashford received her BS at Washburn University in Kansas and completed her training as a board-certification Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner at the University of Louisville. She further completed her PhD and NIH postdoctoral fellowship and the Wharton Executive Nursing Leadership program.

Speakers

Andra Davis, PhD, MN, RN
Associate Professor
University of Portland
School of Nursing and Health Innovation

Dr. Andra Davis (she/her) is an Associate Professor with palliative care expertise (educational and instrument development). She is a co-investigator with the End-of-life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) and leads a national effort to advance palliative care education in schools of nursing. With her colleague Dr. Lippe, she has developed instruments to evaluate student learning related to palliative care education. In addition to this work, she has participated in revision of national palliative care competency statements intended for use in schools of nursing. Dr. Davis has worked with an international team of researchers to explore provider experiences in caring for persons at the end of life in Thailand. Other work includes nurse-led symptom support for persons receiving cancer treatment and development of national family caregiver competencies within a national consortium of nurse educators.

Megan Lippe, PhD, MSN, RN, ANEF, FAAN
Associate Professor
University of Texas Health San Antonio
School of Nursing

Dr. Megan Lippe is an Associate Professor with tenure and a palliative care expert. She is a national leader for palliative nursing care education with published works in areas related to palliative care education, simulation, interprofessional education, and social justice. She is a co-investigator of the End of Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) focused on advancing palliative care education in schools of nursing throughout the country. Dr. Lippe is the lead author for AACN-endorsed national palliative care competence statement revisions for undergraduate and graduate education (CARES and G-CARES, respectively) and the ELNEC Undergraduate/New Graduate curr iculum.

Speakers

Susan M. Grant, DNP, RN, FAAN, NEA-BC
Executive Vice President, Chief Experience Officer and Chief Nurse Executive
Wellstar Health System

Susan Grant is Executive Vice President, Chief Experience Officer and Chief Nurse Executive (CNE) at Wellstar Health System, a nine-hospital health system headquartered in Marietta, Ga. Grant has operated in healthcare for over 30 years.

Her wealth of experience in various roles, such as executive vice president and chief nursing officer at Beaumont Health in Detroit, MI and Emory Healthcare in Atlanta, GA have led to achievements, including leading the nursing practice of over 10,000 nurses across all care settings and overseeing successful Magnet designation and redesignation of 8 different hospitals. She has spoken nationally and internationally and published on patient safety and patient and family-centered care. Grant is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and received her Bachelors degree in Nursing from the Medical College of Georgia, Masters degree in Nursing from the University of South Carolina and Doctor of Nursing Practice from Vanderbilt University.

M. Lindell Joseph, PhD, RN, FAAN, FAONL
Clinical Professor & Director DNP & MSN Health Systems
Administration/Executive Leadership Programs
University of Iowa College of Nursing

Lindell Joseph has a passion for advancing nursing leadership and innovativeness through thought leadership, research methods, and extensive publications.

She is currently a Distinguished Scholar in Nursing, a Clinical Professor, and the Director for DNP and MSN in Health Systems/Administration/Executive Leadership Programs at the University of Iowa College of Nursing. She co-leads the curriculum redesign for both the undergraduate and graduate programs and recently served as a Councilor and Sena tor on the Faculty Senate. Dr. Joseph serves as a member of the International Society for Professional Identity in Nursing. Advisory Group. In that role, she co-led the development of the Conceptual Model for Professional Identity in Nursing and now chairs the committee, Nurse as Leader. She serves on the American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL) Foundation Board of Directors and co-leads the Nursing Leadership and System Science Council a collaboration between AONL Foundation and the Association for Leadership Science in Nursing. From 2016-2018 she was elected to the AONL Board of Directors and served on the American Hospital Association(AHA) Regional Policy Board for Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Missouri, and Minnesota. She is both a fellow in both the American Academy of Nursing and the American Organization for Nursing Leadership.

Dr. Joseph’s areas of expertise are leadership effectiveness, innovativeness across academia-practice, and the General Effectiveness Multilevel Theory for Shared Governance (GEMS), the only theory-based program for shared governance implementation in nursing practice. In 2021, she co-published the book, Leadership, and Nursing Care Management.

Nelda Godfrey, PhD, ACNS-BC, RN, FAAN, ANEF
Associate Dean, Innovation
University of Kansas School of Nursing

Nelda Godfrey is Professor and Associate Dean for Innovative Partnerships and Practice at the University of Kansas School of Nursing, Kansas City, KS. A thought leader in nursing innovation and nursing education, Dr. Godfrey writes often on new care delivery models that can be influenced by a stronger emphasis on the nurse within—researching and developing strategies to create the whole person experience in nursing practice going forward.

Her work with the International Society for Professional Identity in Nursing is transforming the way nurses, health care professionals and society understanding what it means to “think, act and feel like a nurse.” This work offers new language and new knowledge for the journey—helping nurses heal, flourish and expertly care for others. Dr. Godfrey received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the Uni versity of Missouri, her Masters in Nursing and credential as a Clinical Nurse Specialist from the University of Kansas Medical Center, and her PhD in Nursing from the University of Missouri. Scholarly accomplishments include seminal work in professional identity in nursing and implementing the AACN Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education. Programmatic achievements include creating the KU Community College Nursing Program (KUCCNP) in which community college students dually enroll in their community college and KU simultaneously, allowing them to graduate with an associate degree in nursing and a bachelor of science in nursing at the same time.

Dr. Godfrey currently serves as the chair for the American Nurses Association Ethics and Human Rights Advisory Board and is formerly one of two co-leads for the Missouri Action Coalition supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.