Past Novice Faculty Award Recipients

Innovation: Anthony Carney co-founded the Health Equity Internship program, a service-learning course where students gained experience learning about diverse health populations. Additionally, he taught an elective course in LGBTQ+ health across the lifespan. Carney was also a family nurse practitioner with UK HealthCare Transform Health, a network of health providers specializing in LGBTQ+ primary care and gender-affirming care. His teaching, research, and clinical interests lie at the intersection of inclusive excellence in higher education, LGBTQ+ primary care, and gender-affirming care. He is dedicated to advancing the skills of nurses and nurse practitioners in delivering affirming care to diverse patient populations including LGBTQ+ patients.

Innovation: Erin Tharalson designed and implemented an evidence and theory-based simulation workshop grounded in Bandura’s Theory of Self-Efficacy with the specific goal of improving student competence and confidence in having difficult conversations with patients. This workshop engages students through evidence-based sessions which include both didactic content and active learning. Throughout the workshop, students participate in roleplay activities based on the use of therapeutic communication and interprofessional collaboration with both peers and experts on end-of-life care. The success of this pilot program earned Dr. Tharalson a $10,000 grant from the Mary Killeen Program for Educational Excellence at Arizona State University, supporting ongoing development and sustainability of this important work. Dr. Tharalson’s innovative work in this area was also recognized as she was selected to present this at the 49th Annual NONPF conference in April 2023.

Biography: Dr. Erin Tharalson is a clinical assistant professor and Adult-Gerontology DNP Program Specialty Coordinator at Arizona State University's Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation. With 25 years of nursing experience, she is a certified adult nurse practitioner and registered nurse. Dr. Tharalson received her Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Arizona in 2000 and her Doctor of Nursing Practice in Innovation Leadership from ASU in 2018.

Her professional and research interests encompass enhancing access to evidence-based care for underserved populations, health literacy support for complex conditions and fostering nurse practitioner student development in therapeutic communication and adaptive learning. She has showcased her work at events such as the National League of Nursing (NLN) Summit and the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF) 49th Annual Conference. She has received grants to support her work by the Association of SP Educators (ASPE) and most recently, the Mary Killeen Program for Educational Excellence.

Beyond her academic role, Dr. Tharalson is a certified wound specialist (CWS) and serves as the wound clinic director at a charity medical clinic for the uninsured. Additionally, she lends her expertise to local community health clinics through wound in-services and serves as an editorial advisor and author of numerous literacy-supportive wound education guides that have reached a global audience.

As a dedicated educator, Dr. Tharalson engages students across the adult-gerontology nurse practitioner curriculum, employing innovative teaching methodologies. Her favorite aspects of teaching are student collaboration and mentoring. Her teaching approach is characterized by innovation and inclusivity. She employs cutting-edge technology to engage students effectively, evident in her work with Adaptive Learning Platforms (ALP), which has transformed the learning experience for nurse practitioner students across various specialties.

Innovation: Dr. Don Boyd exemplifies innovation in teaching in the classroom, remotely via zoom, and in the clinical setting.  He strives to ensure that his students consider and address social injustices and health inequities as they learn to provide culturally sensitive anesthesia care to patients and their families.  He is an innovative teacher who uses advanced pedagogies and creative methodologies to optimize student experiences.  He is a mentor and role model to his students and his fellow faculty, and he always makes himself available to all of us. For these reasons, I urge you to consider him for this award.

Biography: Dr. Don Boyd is the newly appointed Associate Director of the Nurse Anesthesia Program. Dr. Boyd is a nurse of 23 years, with 12 years of them as a certified registered nurse anesthetist. Throughout his nursing career, Dr. Boyd has continuously utilized best evidence in providing care, advocated for patients, families, and the nursing profession, and provided high quality care to patients and families across the care continuum. Dr. Boyd has trained nursing students and student registered nurse anesthetists, and has advocated for nursing scope of practice with a focus on nurse anesthetist scope of practice. Dr. Boyd is passionate about leading within the nursing profession, leading within the nurse anesthesia specialty, and educating and mentoring the next generation of nurse leaders.

Innovation: Dr. Tracy Vitale has created a tremendous impact on doctoral education at Rutgers University. Her commitment to teaching excellence is not only reflected in her course evaluations but is also evident in the evolution of navigating DNP Projects. She has systematically identified gaps, reported results, and developed and implemented strategies for improvement. Her unwavering commitment to teaching has been widely recognized by students, faculty, and nursing administration. She has been recognized as a Nurse of the Year on a state level for her excellence in teaching. Her work to support DNP students within the school and beyond is undeniable.

Biography: Drawing on her extensive experience in both academic and clinical practice related to nursing care of children and childbearing, Dr. Tracy Vitale joined the Rutgers School of Nursing faculty in 2017 as an assistant professor. She teaches DNP Project courses while also assisting students with DNP Project development and writing of proposals, submissions to IRB, implementation of their projects, and synthesis of findings and implications on nursing practice.

Her areas of expertise include maternal newborn nursing from conception and fetal development through all aspects of perinatal nursing including care of the laboring patient, fetal assessment during labor, assessment of fetal well-being, discomforts of labor, pain management, high-risk pregnancy complications, post-partum care, physical and psychological care of the post-partum patient, newborn assessment and care, common deviations of the newborn, deviations of normal childbearing, and women’s health and family planning.

Dr. Vitale also serves as an adjunct faculty member at Trinitas School of Nursing in Elizabeth, NJ, where she teaches evening courses related to childbearing.

Earlier, she was a volunteer faculty member at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences.  Dr. Vitale was a nurse manager specializing in maternal fetal medicine research, as well as the out-patient maternal fetal medicine and high-risk obstetrical practices at Saint Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ, and before that as clinical coordinator and assistant nurse manager at that hospital in the labor and delivery/perinatal evaluation and treatment units.  She also worked previously as a clinical instructor at the Rutgers School of Nursing, stressing the importance of evidence-based practice in order to improve patient safety and quality of care.

Earlier, she worked as a registered nurse at Saint Peter’s University Hospital and at St. Clare’s Hospital in Denville, NJ – in both cases, working with delivering mothers and newborns.

Dr. Vitale earned her doctorate in nursing practice at the Rutgers School of Nursing. Recognizing how quality and safety in patient care can be influenced by nursing leadership, the focus of her DNP project was to evaluate the impact of a statewide mentoring program for nurse leaders on leadership practices and job satisfaction. Dr. Vitale has also earned a mini-MBA program certificate. She also holds a master’s degree in nursing from the University of Phoenix and a bachelor’s degree in nursing from The College of New Jersey.

Innovation: To facilitate teaching EBP to her students, Dr. Palokas implemented systematic review methodology into the DNP curriculum.  This innovative teaching strategy has strengthened our students understanding of EBP and has enhanced scholarly projects..

Dr. Michelle Palokas is an associate professor at University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) School of Nursing, director of the Doctor of Nursing Practice program, and deputy director of the Mississippi Centre of Evidence-Based Practice: A Joanna Briggs Institute Centre of Excellence and Cochrane Affiliate. She has 18 years’ experience as a nurse and leader in healthcare. She obtained her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Mississippi University for Women in 2002 and both her Master of Science in Nursing Administration and Doctor of Nursing Practice degrees from the School of Nursing at UMMC in 2007 and 2014, respectively.

She's been a faculty member at the school of nursing since 2016. She also has several years of leadership experience in the hospital setting, as she served at Batson Children's Hospital as the nurse manager of the general pediatric unit from 2007 to 2012 and then director of inpatient services from 2012 to 2016. She was named the University of Mississippi Medical Center's Nursing Leader of the Year in 2009. She is an accredited trainer-certified reviewer for the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Comprehensive Systematic Review Training Program and The Evidenced Based Practice Clinical Fellowship Program of Adelaide, Australia. She also received certification as a TeamSTEPPS Master Trainer from Tulane University School of Medicine in 2015.

In addition to her work in academia, she is passionate about academic/practice partnerships, patient/family-centered care, improving interprofessional collaboration in healthcare, and implementing evidence-based practice to improve patient safety, outcomes and experiences. She is an active member of several professional organizations, including the Mississippi Nurses' Association, Society of Pediatric Nurses, Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society, and Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.  Palokas is a peer reviewer for the Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare, Journal of Pediatric Nursing, and JBI Evidence Synthesis.

Innovation: Dr. Tolu Oyesanya has been an outstanding faculty member and instrumental in teaching the PhD students in the classroom. In a very short time, she has excelled as a thoughtful, evidence-based educator with a heart for the students. She provides innovative strategies for learning difficult content and consistently provides mentoring for the students. She is a role model for many and is also a team player within the faculty

Dr. Tolu Oyesanya is an Assistant Professor at Duke University School of Nursing (DUSON). Dr. Oyesanya’s research program centers on care of patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) in acute and post-acute treatment settings, as well as support of their family caregivers. Her current research focuses on developing and testing interventions to improve the transitional care process for patients with TBI discharged home from acute hospital care, as well as their family caregivers. Dr. Oyesanya teaches in the DUSON PhD program. Her passion and expertise in qualitative research drive her major teaching contributions, which are teaching doctoral-level qualitative research courses. Most notably, Dr. Oyesanya developed the first doctoral-level advanced qualitative data analysis course offered at DUSON. Dr. Oyesanya earned her BS, MS, and PhD in Nursing from University of Wisconsin-Madison. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Brain Injury Research at Shepherd Center in Atlanta, GA. Her research has been supported by several federal and intramural awards. Dr. Oyesanya is actively involved in various professional organizations, including as chair of the Mentoring Task Force of the Early Career Networking Group with the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and as a member of the Association of Rehabilitation Nurses and the International Brain Injury Association.

Innovation: Dr. Annie Rohan’s innovation and effectiveness, and commitment to assessment, evaluation and quality outcomes, has resulted in her recent appointment as Program Director for our Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Program. During her short time as Program Director, she has continued to expand the use of open-access resources, including leading the way to meet our University “Green Classroom” initiative: She was our first Program Director to support faculty in reducing textbooks by over 80% by transitioning to open-access resources or e-textbooks.

Dr. Annie J. Rohan is an Assistant Professor in the Stony Brook University School of Nursing where she teaches across programs, but primarily concentrates on teaching-learning pedagogies and novel programming in the graduate department.  Dr. Rohan’s current educational research is focused on developing and testing novel writing interventions for DNP students to improve writing outcomes. These interventions have been presented at the 2017 AACN Doctoral Conference, and have been published in Clinical Education (Rohan & Fulllerton, 2018) and JAANP (Rohan & Fulllerton, 2019).  In her role as Project Director for one of HRSA’s largest 4-year Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students awards ($3.2 million), Dr. Rohan supports over 60 educationally or environmentally disadvantaged graduate students from underserved neighborhoods of New York to develop the future healthcare workforce for these regions. Beyond securing broad tuition support to students, Dr. Rohan has demonstrated an appreciation for student challenge by expanding the use of open-access resources to reduce book fees. She was the first Program Director in her school to achieve a reduction in textbook use by over 80% through transition to open-educational resources and e-textbooks, thereby earning the university’s “Green Classroom” designation for the program.

Dr. Tiffany Nielsen is an Assistant Clinical Professor and has more than 10 years of nursing experience. She received her Baccalaureate degree in nursing from California State University, Long Beach in 2007 and her Master of Science in Nursing degree, as a Family Nurse Practitioner, from the University of California, Irvine in 2013. She followed to earn her Doctorate of Nursing Practice from Brandman University in 2017. Dr. Nielsen’s nursing career has been rooted in emergency medicine; 2 years ago she became an Assistant Clinical Professor at UCI’s Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing, her alma mater. As a novice faculty member at UCI, Dr. Nielsen has led many of the graduate level courses in the Family Nurse Practitioner Program, including Advanced Health and Physical Assessment, Primary Care, Health Promotion/Disease Prevention, Primary Care Pediatrics, and Procedures in Primary Care. Currently, Dr. Nielsen’s primary duty is the Simulation Coordinator for UCI’s School of Nursing, where she leads the forefront of innovative nursing education with simulated learning experiences.

Dr. Sharon Forest is an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch. Dr. Forest has over 23 years of experience in neonatal critical care nursing and has practiced as a NNP for over 17 years. Job responsibilities have included infant management in level II and III NICUs, the delivery room, and on transport. She developed an internship/orientation program for new NICU nurses and served as NNP manager. Her research and grant activities have focused on tobacco prevention and cessation, concentrating on youth tobacco prevention and smoking cessation during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Dr. Forest has presented at state, national, and international conferences. Her publications include journal articles, book chapters, and online training modules. She has lead various hospital quality and performance improvement projects, which include transitioning facilities to tobacco-free campuses and decreasing hospital acquired infections in the NICU.

Kathrene Carter Brendell is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of South Carolina College of Nursing. Dr. Brendell Dr. Brendell currently teaches in CON’s Baccalaureate, Master’s and DNP Programs, demonstrating empathy and respect for students creating an atmosphere of positivity in the classroom that reduces anxiety and promotes learning. She incorporates technologies in classroom and online settings to engage student learning styles, emphasizing the applicability of theory and evidence to guide practice. A state of the art simulation program augments student’s education; and graduate students finish their programs having learned collaborative mental health provision through the use of team-based telehealth services. Dr. Brendell is working collaboratively with South Carolina Department of Mental Health to facilitate Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner delivery of MH services in schools and hopes her efforts will provide a three-fold benefit, addressing child/adolescent MH needs, training sites for PMHNP students and employment opportunities for PMHNP graduates.

Jeanne L. Alhusen is an Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing (JHSON). She earned her BSN from Villanova University, her MSN/FNP from Duke University, and her PhD from Johns Hopkins University. In 2013, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship, jointly funded by the Morton and Jane Blaustein Fellowship in Mental Health and Psychiatric Nursing and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine as a KL2 Clinical Research Scholar. Dr. Alhusen currently teaches in JHSON’s Baccalaureate and Master’s Entry into Nursing Programs, and has taught Adult Health, the Research Process in Nursing, and Biostatistics. She also has experience teaching in the clinical setting. Dr. Alhusen was the 2015 recipient of the Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association Excellence in Teaching Award, an award determined by the student body at JHSON. Dr. Alhusen draws on her active practice as an FNP as well as her research expertise to best illuminate the critical linkages between theory and clinical courses. Her general approach in the classroom is to engage students to become collaborators at all levels of instruction. In the classroom, she uses innovative activities to help students engage with the material and learn critical thinking and communication skills. She is genuinely open to students’ informed opinions and eager to grow and learn along with them. Dr. Alhusen’s research is focused on maternal mental health and early childhood outcomes in vulnerable populations. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, Health Resources and Service Administration, and several foundations. She hopes that her research will contribute to greater program effects in early intervention programs and greater sustainability of gains over time.

Amber McCall is an assistant professor at Georgia Regents University (GRU) in the Department of Physiological and Technological Nursing. She earned her BSN from the Medical College of Georgia, her PhD from Georgia Health Sciences University, and her FNP certification from Georgia Regents University. Prior to entering academia, Dr. McCall worked in the intensive care unit, medical- surgical unit, and hospice/palliative care. Dr. McCall currently teaches in GRU’s master’s-level Clinical Nurse Leader Program and Nurse Practitioner Programs. She has experience in clinical, simulation, lab, and classroom lecture. She was the recipient of the Student Government Association Nursing Faculty Leadership Award for 2013 and was nominated by five students for the Caught in the Act of Great Teaching Award for 2013. She believes that a true educator sows the gift of self in hopes of reaping the joy of seeing another obtain self-empowerment through learning. Dr. McCall uses innovative teaching strategies for student engagement, including new- edge technology, interactive lectures and ties nursing content with current local, national and world-wide news events. Dr. McCall has recently organized a Clinical Nurse Leader Critical Thinking Lab with eight sessions for each student in November 2013 to help encourage current first-year students to understand critical thinking, professionalism and on-going development to foster their own person nursing growth, as well as advancement of the profession of nursing. Dr. McCall’s research interests include faith-based health initiatives/interventions and understanding health decision-making. Additionally, she helped develop reference materials in the study, Fit, Body and Soul, by adding spirituality-themed content to the Diabetes Prevention Program for use in African-American churches in the local Central Savannah River Area. Other areas of interest include post-traumatic stress disorder, cancer prevention and coping.

Larry Z. Slater is a Clinical Assistant Professor teaching in the undergraduate program at the New York University (NYU) College of Nursing. Dr. Slater received a BS in Chemical Engineering from Auburn University, and, as a second-degree student, a BSN and PhD in Nursing from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Nursing; he also completed his post-doctoral training and received his Certificate of Teaching in Nursing at UAB. Dr. Slater’s areas of specialization include nursing education and research as well as research on HIV and aging, cognition and HIV, and religiosity/spirituality and HIV. He is board certified in critical care and gerontological nursing. He is an active member of the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International, as well as several other professional nursing organizations, including the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, the American Nurses Association and ANA-New York, the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, the Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science, and the National League for Nursing. Over the past years, Dr. Slater has received numerous honors and awards, including the Teaching Excellence Award from the NYU Undergraduate Student Nurses Organization in 2013 and a Recognized Leader Award in 2010 from the UAB School of Nursing during their 60th Anniversary Leaders with a Vision Celebration. He also received the New Member Pillar of Leadership and New Member Pillar of Service awards from Sigma Theta Tau International at their biennial convention in 2009. At the NYU College of Nursing, Dr. Slater is the course coordinator for Pathophysiology and Health Assessment and Promotion, where he has strived to incorporate in-class simulation, interactive case studies, online projects/forums, video projects, and standardized-patient assessments into the curriculum to increase student attention and engagement and improve learning outcomes for more than 400 first sequence nursing students annually.

Lori McElroy began her nursing career in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Children’s Hospital of Oklahoma in 1990 as a student nursing assistant. Upon graduation from nursing school in 1991, she moved to a staff nurse role on the same PICU at Children’s Hospital of Oklahoma. She quickly moved into the role of charge nurse until 1996 when she moved back home to Duncan, Okla. While in Duncan, Mrs. McElroy served many roles in nursing, including homecare RN case manager at Duncan Regional Hospital, Assistant Director of Nursing at Country Club Care Nursing Facility, instructor in the practical nursing program of Red River Technology Center, and for the past four years has served as an instructor for the University of Oklahoma College of Nursing at their Lawton/Duncan site. She was recently promoted to Assistant Professor at the OU College of Nursing and is currently teaching on both the Lawton and Duncan campus. Mrs. McElroy earned her Bachelor’s Degree in in 1991 and Master’s Degree in Nursing in 2006, both from the OU College of Nursing in 2006. She began her career as a collegiate nursing instructor at the OU College of Nursing in 2007. At the College, her primary role is lead didactic instructor of Pharmacology, and an assistant for Clinical I lab, Clinical II Course Coordinator and lead lab instructor, didactic assistant for Health Assessment and Clinical III instructor. Since beginning collegiate teaching, she has also obtained her certification in Nursing Education in 2008 through the National League for Nursing. As a collegiate didactic instructor, Lori McElroy brings a combination of versatility, computer technology, organization, innovation and experience in both traditional and online classrooms. She provides a variety of successful learning environments and experiences which impacted more than 400 past and present students.