Speakers

Shelley A. Johnson, EdD, MSN, MBA, RN
Dean & Professor
Florida A&M University

Dr. Shelley Johnson holds a bachelor’s (University of Pennsylvania) and master’s degree (Penn State) 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 life-long learning and was graduated from Northwestern University’s, Kellogg School of Management’s Executive MBA program.

Dr. Johnson has created, taught and led undergraduate and graduate programs for over 18 years. She serves as the Dean and Professor at the Florida A & M University, School of Nursing. She has worked in higher education administration for Chamberlain University, Lincoln University, Rutgers University, LaSalle University, and University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

She was the Founding Director and Chair of Nursing and Health Science at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. She recently served as a Dean at Chamberlain University and as an independent consultant for Kairos Solutions, LLC. Her specialties include higher education, leadership, curriculum and instruction, assessment, and community health. She is certified as a nurse executive, nurse educator, and as a comprehensive systematic reviewer.

Dr. Johnson lives servant leadership. She served as the President of Sigma Theta Tau, Xi Chapter at University of Pennsylvania through 2019 and continues to serve on other community organization boards. She has served as a reviewer for Joanna Briggs Institute, the Journal of Leadership, ABNFF, and Sigma Theta Tau International. She has published articles and book chapters, served as subject matter expert, and participated in research related to a variety of topics. These topics included: Healthy educational environments, health disparities, cultural diversity, advocacy, leadership, VUCA management and digital transformation, and nursing education. Her research interests include nursing, healthcare, and general educational practices, healthy work environments, and leadership development.

Speakers

Cheryl Lacasse, PhD, RN, AOCNS
Clinical Professor and Director of Teaching, Learning, an dEvaluation
College of Nursing
University of Arizona

Dr. Cheryl Lacasse received her Ph.D. in Nursing from the University of Utah in 2017 and her M.S. in Nursing from Boston College in 1989. She is a Center for University Education Scholarship (CUES) Fellow at the University of Arizona and an Advanced Oncology Clinical Nurse Specialist (Oncology Nursing Certification Corporation).

Connie Miller, DNP, RNC-OB, CNE
Associate Clinical Professor and Division Chair of General Nursing and Health Education
College of Nursing
University of Arizona

Connie Miller, DNP, RNC-OB, CNE, received her Doctor of Nursing Practice from Arizona State University in 2016 and her M.S.N from University of Arizona in 1995. She is a Certified Nurse Educator (National League for Nursing, 2015), a Certified Inpatient Obstetrical Nurse (National Certification Corporation for the Obstetric, Gynecologic and Neonatal Nursing Specialties, 1992) and a Registered Nurse.

Speakers

Robin Newhouse, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN
Dean and Distinguished Professor
School of Nursing
Indiana University

Dr. Robin Newhouse is the dean of the Indiana University (IU) School of Nursing and an IU distinguished professor. Her research focuses on health system interventions to improve care processes and patient outcomes. She has published extensively on health services improvement interventions, acute care quality issues and evidence-based practice.

Rebecca Bartlett Ellis, PhD, RN, ACNS-BC
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
School of Nursing
Indiana University

Rebecca Bartlett Ellis is an Associate Professor and the Executive Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the Indiana University School of Nursing, Indianapolis. She has more than 14 years of teaching experience in undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral level programs, she synergistically aligns her academic practice with patient care and research. Both nationally and internationally recognized expert in the field of medication management and adherence, her research focuses on developing and testing person-centered interventions to support medication management utilizing digital health technologies. She led a multidisciplinary team to develop a patented, smart pillbox, to digitally track patients’ pillbox interactions while managing medications. She is the first nurse in the 107-year history of her school of nursing to receive a patent. She co-led the development of a digital health checklist and framework to aid researchers’ decision-making about digital health technologies to ensure that they are used ethically, safely, securely, and effectively.

Speakers

Gerry Altmiller,EdD, APRN, ACNS-BC, ANEF, FAAN
Professor of Nursing
The College of New Jersey

Gerry Altmiller, EdD, APRN, ACNS-BC, ANEF, FAAN, is a professor of nursing at The College of New Jersey, a clinical nurse specialist consultant for Einstein Healthcare Network in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and has pioneered the integration of quality and safety competencies in nursing education since 2006 when she served as a faculty leader for one of the 15 pilot schools for the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) Collaboration. She currently is a national consultant for QSEN and director of the Quality and Safety Innovation Center at The College of New Jersey. She leads the QSEN Academic Task Force, creating opportunities for its 110 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 was co-editor of a special QSEN issue of Nurse Educator and currently serves on the journal’s editorial board. Her research focuses on clinical evaluation, QSEN integration, and communication challenges in educational and practice environments.

Speakers

Gail Armstrong, PhD, DNP, ACNS-BC, CNE, FAAN
Professor, Assistant Dean of the DNP Program
Oregon Health & Science University

Dr. Gail Armstrong received her BA from Bates College, her Nursing Doctorate, MSN and DNP from the University of Colorado, and her PhD from Vanderbilt University. Well known as an exceptional educator, Gail’s career in higher education has included teaching and curricular development in pre-licensure, Master’s Degree and DNP Programs. Gail’s clinical practice began at the bedside as Med/Surg nurse, then as an Adult Clinical Nurse Specialist, and more recently was focused on the area of quality and safety. Gail’s academic and practice career has focused on inspiring and leading health professionals to integrate healthcare systems improvement into their practice. Gail’s scholarly contributions include developing groundbreaking, specific strategies for early and sustained integration of the IOM/NAM competencies into pre-licensure curricula, which challenged decades-old models of curricular progression. Gail is the primary author of Leadership and Systems Improvement for the DNP, a 2020 text that offers leadership and systems improvement content for DNP nursing clinical leaders.