Speakers

Patricia Morton, PhD, RN, ACNP-BC, FAAN
Editor of the Journal of Professional Nursing
Dean Emeritus
University of Utah

Patricia G. Morton is Dean Emeritus, University of Utah College of Nursing. Dr. Morton has authored three textbooks, numerous book chapters, and over 60 journal articles. She has served on the editorial board of six nursing journals and for seven years was the editor of a clinical journal sponsored by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. Currently, Dr. Morton is the editor of AACN’s Journal of Professional Nursing. She is a certified acute care nurse practitioner. Dr. Morton was inducted as a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing in 1999.

Speakers

Tami J. Rogers, PhD, DVM, MSN, CNE
Professor of Nursing, Curriculum QA/Course Development
Rasmussen University

Dr. Tami J. Rogers holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) from Florida State University, a Master’s of Science in Nursing in Nursing (MSN) from the University of Phoenix, a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) from Auburn University, and a Ph.D. in Education with a specialization in Nursing Education from Capella University. Tami practiced as a small animal Veterinarian for 12 years before transitioning to nursing, where her clinical background in nursing focused on the adult population in open-heart surgical recovery. Since 2003 Tami has served as Nurse Educator and Curriculum Manager at the Associates, Bachelors, Masters, and Doctoral levels. Currently, she manages quality assurance and course development for the School of Nursing Curriculum Team. Dr. Rogers holds a specialty certification as a Certified Nurse Educator (CNE) and has presented findings from research and evidence-based interventions at local and national conferences, including Sigma Theta Tau Annual Research Day, National League for Nursing Summit, and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing BSN and MSN Conferences. Her current research interests include perceived self-efficacy for information literacy among faculty and students and use of embedded information literacy activities in nursing education, alignment of ACRL nursing information literacy competency standards to EBP competencies at undergraduate and graduate levels, meaningful evaluation strategies and feedback for the DNP specialty clinical practice experience, and cognitive and emotional impacts of graduate competency-based education.

Becky Costello, EdD
Director of Instructional Design
Rockford Public Schools

Dr. Becky Costello has been designing online learning for adults for over ten years. Her research area of interest is the impact of online faculty training on learning communities. In her current role, she designs professional learning opportunities for teachers and other certified staff at a large, urban public school district in Northern Illinois. She takes great pride in the collaborative relationships she builds with stakeholders in the instructional design process. Though she is not a nurse, she is invested in understanding the regulatory challenges, student and faculty experience, and other key aspects of online nursing course and program quality.

Speaker

Gwen Sherwood, PhD, RN, FAAN, ANEF
Professor Emeritus
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

Dr. Gwen D. Sherwood was a Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing. Her program of scholarship evolved from a model for caring relationships which led to examination of patient satisfaction with pain management, particularly from a multicultural perspective and the development of a Spanish Language tool, the Houston Pain Outcome Instrument. She also applied the caring model to spiritual dimensions of care and the impact on healthy work environments and helped develop the Methodist Caring Tool to examine patient satisfaction with caring. Through her work at the University of Texas at Houston School of Nursing she was co-investigator with the Medical School’s Center for Patient Safety to examine teamwork as a variable in patient safety.

Dr. Sherwood is co-investigator on Phases I, II, III, and IV of the award winning Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) initiative funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to transform nursing curriculum to prepare nurses in quality and safety for redesigned health care systems. She was a nursing leader for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University Inter-professional Patient Safety Education Collaborative to measure effectiveness of teaching modalities for interdisciplinary teamwork training involving nursing and medical students. She participates in the annual Telluride Science Institute on interprofessional education with the University of Illinois at Chicago and is a member of the National Patient Safety Foundation Research Committee. She has been a leader in developing nursing education across borders, working with nursing faculty in China, Thailand, Macau, Mexico, England, and Kenya.

She is Past President of the International Association for Human Caring and served two terms as Vice President of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society for Nursing.

Speaker

Debra Joy Perez, PhD (she, her, ella)
Senior Philanthropic Advisor and Independent Executive Consultant

Dr. Pérez is Senior Philanthropic Advisor and Executive Consultant to national foundations, federal grant making entities, and higher education. She has been a leader in advancing equity and accountability for three of the nation’s leading foundations and higher education organizations. Dr. Pérez has served on multiple committees and received multiple awards. At the National Science Foundation Educative Human Resources Advisory Committee, she led the subcommittee on Broadening Participation. In addition to her professional achievements, she has been recognized for her outstanding work mentoring underrepresented and emerging leaders as well as supporting others succeed in advancing equity. Dr. Perez has received multiple community awards including the 2019 Latinx Amplify Award, the 2015 Hispanics Inspiring Student Achievement Leadership in Mentoring award, the 2016 Hispanics in Philanthropy HIPGiver, the 2011 YWCA Women of Industry Award and the 2010 Latino Trendsetter Award. In 2015 she received an Honorary Doctorate from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. She was also featured in Latina Style Magazine as one of the Latina leaders in philanthropy.

In her work in professional private philanthropy, Dr. Pérez previously served as Chief Measurement and Evaluation Officer at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. She also served as Vice President of Research, Evaluation, and Learning at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and Interim Vice President at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Throughout her career, she has been responsible for bringing diverse perspectives to the table of research and policy decision-making. She has been responsible for developing many initiatives to foster high-quality multidisciplinary research and expanding various dimensions of diversity.

Dr. Pérez is the first in her family to go to college. She earned a bachelor’s in communication from Rutgers University/Douglass College; a Master’s in Social Science and Women’s Studies from the University of Kent in Canterbury, England; a Master of Public Administration from Baruch College, City University of New York; and a PhD in health policy from Harvard University.

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!