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Featured Speakers

Lee Woodruff

Journalist, New York Times Bestselling Author, and Co-Founder of the Bob Woodruff Foundation

Keeping the Humanity in Health Care
Sunday, March 26 | 2:00-3:00 p.m.
Join Lee Woodruff, journalist, media specialist, and New York Times bestselling author, for an inspiring session about strength and compassion, respect and kindness, and a reminder of what brings value in health care is free and takes little time. With a distinctive voice coming from the heart, Ms. Woodruff is sharing wisdom and personal experiences about her healthcare journey and recovery.

Dr. Elizabeth Fowler

Deputy Administrator and Director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation

Driving Innovation in Medicare: Creating a More Person-Centered and Equitable Health Care System
Sunday, March 26 | 3:30-4:30 p.m.
Join Dr. Elizabeth Fowler, CMMI Deputy Administrator and Director, for a stimulating discussion on national efforts to advance value-based care at the federal level and achieve equitable health outcomes through high quality, affordable, and person-centered care.

Dr. Richard Levin

President and CEO of The Arnold P. Gold Foundation
Geraldine “Polly” Bednash Lectureship Award Recipient

The Struggle for Trust: Infusing Humanism into Health Care
Geraldine "Polly" Bednash Lectureship Award
Sunday, March 26, 2023 | 5:00-6:00 p.m.
Gold Foundation President and CEO Dr. Richard Levin will discuss the battering of trust in American society and its consequences for nurses and the health professions at large. In an era plagued by health misinformation and diminished regard for science, the value of expertise is under attack. Clinicians are exhausted and despairing from the moral injury of caring for those who deny the truth about what biomedical science brings to caring. Nurses remain the most trusted profession in the nation but sustaining the nursing workforce and the other healthcare professionals is a challenge of new urgency. We need leaders to guide us out of this crisis, and the solutions must be interprofessional. Dr. Levin will focus on the power of humanism and the human connection to restore trust and pave a brighter future for nurses, physicians, and all patients under our care.

The Geraldine “Polly” Bednash Lectureship Award was established in March 2014 to honor AACN’s previous CEO, who led the association for 28 years. Award recipients are chosen by the AACN Board of Directors on the basis of their leadership and/or scholarly contributions to interprofessional education.

Dr. Rana Awdish

Author and Director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Program at Henry Ford Hospital

Practicing with Intention and Purpose: Redoubling Our Power to Heal
Monday, March 27 | 9:00-10:00 a.m.
Dr. Awdish, a best-selling author and physician, shares her firsthand account of a harrowing patient care experience and how nurses taught her to approach the practice medicine in a different way. The lessons she learned were a catalyst to finding a path towards practicing with greater intention and purpose

Looking for Answers?

Contact the AACN Conference Team today!

Phone: 202-463-6930 |

Email: conferences@aacnnursing.org |