President and Chief Executive Officer, America's Physician Groups
Opening Plenary Susan Dentzer is one of the nation's most respected health policy experts and thought leaders who advocate for health care in the U.S to “become more patient-centered, coordinated, integrated, and accountable for both cost and quality.” She is a Senior Policy Fellow at the Robert J. Margolis Center for Health Policy at Duke University, focusing on reforms in healthcare payment and delivery and the transition to value-based care. Ms. Dentzer previously served as President and CEO of the Network for Excellence in Health Innovation; a non-profit, multi-stakeholder organization focused on policies to advance healthcare innovation. She is known to many as a longtime journalist who served as an on-air analyst on health issues with the PBS NewsHour and a regular commentator on health policy for National Public Radio. She is also the editor and lead author of Health Care Without Walls: A Roadmap for Reinventing U.S. Health Care. Ms. Dentzer is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and serves on its Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice.
Chief Executive Officer (Retired), National Council State Boards of Nursing
Plenary Change, Challenge and Opportunity: The Future Contribution of Education, Regulation, and Practice Monday, March 25 | 9:00-10:00 a.m. Dr. David Benton is a global expert in nursing and regulation and has advised governments and UN agencies around the world on both nursing legislation and wider health policy issues. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Nursing and most recently was awarded the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) Founders Award. He has held senior leadership positions over the past 30 years in both healthcare provider and commissioning organizations, not-for-profit organizations and in government. Dr. Benton recently retired after eight years as the CEO of NCSBN based in Chicago. He is a prolific author with over 250 peer-reviewed book chapters and articles.
Former Columnist, The Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed; Senior Writer, Best Colleges
Plenary Surveying Today’s Higher Education Landscape: Key Trends and Emerging Threats Sunday, March 24 | 3:30-4:30 p.m. Dr. Mark J. Drozdowski is a senior writer and senior higher education analyst with Best Colleges and teaches writing at Johns Hopkins University. He spent 30 years in higher education administration and is a former columnist for The Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed. Drozdowski has covered issues for Best Colleges such as college admissions, enrollment trends, rankings, athletics, standardized testing, artificial intelligence, the metaverse, the future of learning, tenure, finance, and governance. Drozdowski has written articles, essays, op-eds, and humor for numerous publications and websites, including The New York Times, Boston Globe, Hartford Courant, Baltimore Sun, Salon, NPR, Writer’s Digest, and Inside Philanthropy. He is the author of A Peculiar Calling: Confessions of a College Fund Raiser and Insider's Guide to Graduate Programs in Education.
Professor, School of Nursing, Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University
Geraldine “Polly” Bednash Lectureship Award Cultivating Relational Integrity: Being Whole Amid Chaos Sunday, March 24 | 5:00-6:00 p.m. Dr. Cynda Hylton Rushton, an international leader in bioethics and nursing, and the Anne and George L. Bunting Professor of Clinical Ethics at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and the School of Nursing. Dr. Rushton co-chairs the Johns Hopkins Hospital’s Ethics Committee and Consultation Service and is a founding member of the Berman Institute. Dr. Rushton co-led the first National Nursing Ethics Summit that produced a Blueprint for 21st Century Nursing Ethics. In 2016, she co-led a national collaborative called the State of the Science Initiative: Transforming Moral Distress into Moral Resilience in Nursing. She was a member of the National Academies of Medicine, Science, and Engineering Committee that produced the report: Taking Action Against Clinician Burnout: A Systems Approach to Professional Well-being. Dr. Rushton is the editor and author of Moral Resilience: Transforming Moral Suffering in Healthcare and co-creator of the Rushton Moral Resilience Scale (RMRS).
Phone: 202-463-6930 | Email: gnsa@aacnnursing.org | Website: www.aacnnursing.org/gnsa