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.

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.

Dr. Pamela Guthman is an assistant professor at UW-Eau Claire, College of Nursing and Health Sciences. She also has taught the Rural Immersion Nursing Program in the summer for UW-Madison, School of Nursing in rural, northwestern Wisconsin. She has spent her career practicing rural community and public health nursing with a focus on the determinants of health, health equity, poverty, and population health. Dr. Guthman has previous administrative experience with a rural community action agency providing programming aimed at the social determinants of health including domestic violence prevention, youth and mental health prevention initiatives, food pantries, transportation, early childhood education, housing, business development, home health and personal care services. She has experience as an education practice liaison for the Linking Education and Practice for the Excellence in Public Health Nursing (LEAP) project from 2007-2012. She has served on the Wisconsin Center for Nursing’s Board as Secretary, is a Board of Director for Forward Community Investment, and for Workforce Resource, is Vice-Chair of the Wisconsin Health Professionals for Climate Action (WHPCA), has served on the Advisory Committee on Healthy Aging in Rural Towns, and is member of Association of Community Health Nurse Educators, Wisconsin Public Health Association, and American Public Health Association - Public Health Nurse Sections, to provide leadership and support innovative collaborative initiatives aimed at prevention, health equity and population health nursing. She holds AACN board certification in home health nursing, was the 2016 recipient of the Wisconsin Community Action Program Association President’s Award and the Wisconsin Nurses Association Community Service Award. Dr. Guthman was awarded the Dr. Brenda Pfaehler Award in 2017 through UW-Madison's Center for Educational Opportunity. In May 2017, she received the DAISY (Diseases Attacking the Immune System) Award for care, skills, and compassion. In August 2018, the Rita Kisting Sparks Faculty Service Award for exemplary service and leadership was awarded through UW-Eau Claire, College of Nursing and Health Sciences.

Kaitlyn Moore, BSN, RN is a current DNP student at the University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire, College of Nursing and Health Services. She attended UW- Eau Claire for her undergraduate program and graduated in May 2017. Since graduating, her career has been spent working with the geriatric and underserved populations. Her current role is a RN Care Coordinator working with the Medicaid population in Minnesota. Kaitlyn's previous work experience includes working as a director of nursing at a 75-apartment assisted living facility. She has spent her first year of the DNP program working as a graduate assistant conducting research on breast cancer, virtual clinical experiences, and academic­ practice linkages within the population health education. She is currently a member of the Wisconsin and American Nurses Associations and the Association of Community Health Nursing Educators.

Laura Wieloch is the Executive Director of Ambulatory Care Management at AdvocateAurora Health Care (AAH). She has been a nurse for over 30 years. Laura has served in various healthcare leadership roles over the past 15 years specifically in Population Health, Care Management, Quality, Home Health and Nursing Education. Currently, as part of the Enterprise Population Health/Integrated Care Management service line at AAH, she is responsible for advancing the strategy of Ambulatory Care Management, partnering with hospital, operational, physician, and executive leaders to execute seamless care across the continuum. In the past 7 years, Laura has developed and implemented care coordination/management services and has grown a successful, adaptive team of clinicians who consistently deliver top tier performance in quality and patient engagement and are deployed strategically across the health system to advance population health and value-based care initiatives. In the past year, Laura has led the advancement and implementation of technology solutions in Enterprise Population Health related to COVID-19 care and Heart Failure Remote Monitoring Programs. She is responsible for the RN Care Management team in primary care, Care Transitions Program for Inpatient and ED discharges, Social Work and Behavioral Health Care Navigation, and Community Based Case Management.

Rose Hoffmann has been on faculty at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing since 1995 and currently an associate professor. Since 2008, she has been the program coordinator for the Clinical Nurse Leader area of concentration leading to an MSN. She is also the Online Program Coordinator and MSN Program Director for the School of Nursing. She has been a lead faculty member for online programs and courses within the School of Nursing and the University. She is a guest speaker for the undergraduate and graduate nursing programs on a variety of topics including education, mentoring, and leadership/management strategies. As a primary teacher for graduate students she coordinates clinical precepted experiences throughout Western PA and the United States. This includes orientation, follow up and evaluation for both the student and preceptor. She has lectured locally, nationally, and internationally on a variety of teaching strategies that incorporate active learning. Currently she advises graduate students in addition to serving as capstone chair for many DNP students. In 2007, she received the Distinguished Clinical Scholar’s award to incorporate interprofessional healthcare education within the School of Nursing and in 2016 received the Cameo of Caring Nurse Educator Award. She is the nursing school's representative within Pitt's schools of the health sciences to incorporate interprofessional healthcare education. As a result of the success of the Model A CNL program Pitt is also creating a Model C MSN Entry into Practice Program which will take effect within the next year.

Latasha Kast, MSN, RN, CCRN, CNL, is an Advanced Clinical Education Specialist for Critical Care at UPMC Passavant. Latasha provides on-boarding, education, mentorship, and leadership support to nurses in her role as an Advanced Clinical Education Specialist for Critical Care. She previously worked in progressive clinical and leadership positions within Trauma/Vascular Step-Down, Surgical Trauma ICU, and Neurovascular ICU. Additionally, she serves on the CNL Advisory Board at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing. Ms. Kast was selected for this award for her commitment to nursing practice by leading and developing several quality improvement projects to improve patient outcomes, including hair washing to reduce surgical site infections in neurosurgical patients.

Amanda Truesdale currently serves as a Clinical Nurse Leader and the unit educator for the medical-surgical COVID unit at Atrium Health at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, NC. She started her nursing career on a dialysis medical-surgical unit in Columbia, SC before transitioning to Charlotte. Since 2012, she has worked on the medical-surgical unit at CMC and has taken the opportunities provided by the system to advance into her current role. In 2015, she became the unit educator and obtained her Medical-Surgical Board Certification through ANCC. In 2016, she began the process of obtaining her Masters in Nursing from Queens University of Charlotte and graduated with her degree in 2018. Later that year, she officially became a certified Clinical Nurse Leader. Ever since, she has been serving in her current job title working closely with the interdisciplinary team to improve patient outcomes.

Preston Brown is passionate about improving patient outcomes through process innovation and multi-disciplinary collaboration. Preston received his Master of Science in Nursing from Texas Christian University and Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Tarleton State University. Preston attained clinical nurse leader certification in 2017 and served as a clinical nurse leader at Texas Health Fort Worth. During his tenure at Texas Health Fort Worth, Preston was involved in the system wide expansion of the CNL role and successfully directed and collaborated with many multidisciplinary teams to improve patient metrics including the patient experience, length of stay, and infection rates. In March 2020, Preston joined Wise Health System in Decatur, Texas. At Wise Health System, Preston serves in a hybrid role of med surg nurse educator and clinical nurse leader. In his short time at Wise Health System, Preston successfully implemented processes that have drastically reduced med surg CAUTI rates. Preston believes in sharing best practices across the nursing continuum and has authored a journal article detailing the nursing experience and response to the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. In his spare time, Preston enjoys spending time with his wife and two sons, Asher and Jack.

Priya has a background in public health and nursing and has worked with several government programs and non-governmental organizations, including the United States Peace Corps in Togo and Partners in Health in Boston. She also spent two years supporting workforce and career development initiatives and HIV resource development within the CDC’s Division of Global HIV & TB. Priya is currently a Doctor of Nursing Practice Candidate at Emory University’s Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing.

As the AACN-CDC Public Health Nursing Fellow, Priya works in CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases managing the design, distribution, and evaluation of project materials for the Immunization in Undergraduate Nursing Project. Which will be featured during this webinar.

Dr. Susan Brasher has an extensive pediatric background in both the inpatient setting as a pediatric Registered Nurse in a pediatric dedicated hospital and in the outpatient setting as a Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (CPNP). Additionally, she has several years of experience in teaching Pediatric Nursing to both undergraduate and graduate nursing students. She received her PhD in Nursing from the University of Florida with an emphasis on pediatric neurodevelopmental disorders, specifically Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Aaron J. Michelfelder, M.D., FAAFP, FAAMA, grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado and moved to Illinois to attend Northwestern University. He then attended the Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine and completed a family medicine residency at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois. In 2000, He joined the Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine and Loyola University Medical Center as a faculty member. He later completed a fellowship in medical acupuncture and advanced training in medical hypnosis. Dr. Michelfelder currently serves as Loyola’s chair of family medicine and interim director of primary care, co-director for Loyola’s Institute for Transformative Interprofessional Education, and is a professor of family medicine, bioethics & health policy, and medical education. He also serves as the President-Elect for the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. His clinical practice includes general family medicine along with integrative medicine. His research interests are in practice transformation and the process of traveling from interprofessional education to collaborative practice. He is also interested in global health and has participated in 25 international medical and educational trips to 10 countries.

Dr. Frances Vlasses’ career spans 40 years in healthcare, academia, and administration. She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and the NLN Academy of Nursing Education, as well as one of the 100 Ohio State University College of Nursing, Alumni Transformers in Nursing and Healthcare.

Most recently, her focus has been studying innovation in the redesign of healthcare system infrastructure to improve patient outcomes. She has attracted grant money and led the implementation of an integrated, interprofessional, nurse-led team delivery model in Primary Care. In this project, the scope of the registered nurse leadership role was expanded, online education modules related to interdisciplinary and community culture were developed, and electronic documentation was created to capture quality and nursing outcomes and provide evidence for sustainability. This project has been recognized as a Nexus Innovation Network site by the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Collaboration.

As the inaugural Co-Director of the Loyola Institute for Transformative Interprofessional Education, Dr. Vlasses has cultivated the additional interprofessional sphere of influence to develop policy on education and practice for health professional students and faculty on the development of high performing teams to enhance quality and safety. She has been invited to serve as a panelist and respondent to discuss nursing roles, interprofessional education, and teamwork for the AACME, LGME, the National Collaborative for Improving the Clinical Learning Environment (NCICLE), and the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC).