Lynn Marie Bullock, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, is an assistant professor and the director of the Office of Professional Education and of the Nurse Leadership Institute at the University of Maryland School of Nursing. Bullock has an extensive background in nursing education and nursing leadership. She teaches in the School’s Doctor of Nursing Practice project courses. As director of Office of Professional Education, she oversees the School’s professional and continuing education offerings, including symposia, conferences, institutes, lectures, and online continuing education courses. The office also offers interprofessional continuing education programs in collaboration with other University of Maryland, Baltimore schools. Bullock is the lead nurse planner for UMSON, which is accredited with distinction as a provider of nursing continuing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

Yolanda Ogbolu, PhD, NNP, FNAP, FAAN, is the Bill and Joanne Conway Dean and professor at University of Maryland School of Nursing. Over the past 13 years, she has served in administrative leadership at UMSON, including as chair of the Department of Partnerships, Professional Education, and Practice and director of the Office of Global Health. She also directs the Center for Health Equity and Outcomes Research and the Global Learning to Advance Health Equity Network.
Ogbolu came to academia with more than 20 years of experience as a neonatal nurse practitioner. Since joining UMSON in 2010, her interprofessional and community-engaged research and scholarship have focused on advancing health equity and nurse capacity locally and globally. The projects she has led center on strengthening nurses’ capacity to impact global health, improving the provision of culturally and linguistically appropriate care in rural and urban hospitals, and addressing social isolation and social determinants of health in marginalized communities. She has garnered over $12 million in funding, as principal and co-investigator, from a diverse group of state and federal agencies and foundations.
She has worked on projects of national scope with the American Association of Nursing, the National Quality Forum, the National League for Nursing, and the U.S. Office of the Surgeon General. She has consulted internationally with the World Health Organization. She is an elected fellow of the National Academies of Practice and the American Academy of Nursing and a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholar.

Patricia Travis, PhD, RN, CCRP, served as a director-at-large (2012 - 14) and secretary of the American Nurses Association (ANA) for two terms (2016 - 20). Travis is the senior associate director, clinical research in the School of Medicine Office of Research Administration at the Johns Hopkins University. During her 27 years of active-duty military service, she was the recipient of numerous military and professional honors and published and lectured on nursing, health care, and research topics. Travis served for many years as a consultant on medical/legal, research, and compliance issues and served on the data and infrastructure workgroup for the state of Maryland, appointed by the Health Services Cost Review Commission. Dedicated to professional organizations, Travis has served on the ANA Political Action Committee board of trustees (2012 - 14). At the state level, Travis served the Maryland Nurses Association (MNA) in many leadership roles, including president (2009 - 11) and first vice president of the board of directors (2007 - 08). She was a representative to the MNA board of directors from MNA District 3, as well as the district’s 2010 delegate to the ANA House of Delegates. She represents MNA as a nurse co-lead with the Maryland Nursing Action Coalition. Additionally, Travis is an American Nurses Advocacy Institute fellow. Supported by the military, Travis earned her BSN, MS, and PhD degrees from the University of Maryland School of Nursing. She has been certified as a Clinical Research Professional since 2004.

Mary Etta Mills, ScD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, professor emerita at the University of Maryland School of Nursing, retired in June 2022 after a distinguished career, during which she held numerous academic leadership positions, including chair of the Department of Education, Administration, Health Policy, and Informatics and associate dean for academic affairs. She also served as interim dean of the School of Nursing from September 2019 - January 2020. Her research, teaching, and professional activities included extensive work in the areas of health services, quality of care, patient safety, and nursing informatics. As a visionary leader on behalf of the School of Nursing, she developed the first master’s program in nursing informatics in the nation in 1998 and the first doctoral program in nursing informatics in the world in 1991. She continues to provide leadership for the School’s nationally and internationally recognized Summer Institute in Nursing Informatics. Her interdisciplinary research and training grants have focused on developing the field of nursing informatics education and application and on advancing the field of health services administration and education through strategic academic-service partnerships throughout Maryland. She has mentored a generation of doctorally prepared nurses, and her former students have gone on to make significant contributions to nursing, serving as deans, associate deans, chief nursing officers, chief information officers, and policy and organizational leaders. As a member of the Maryland Health Resources Planning Commission for 14 years, Mills served as chair of the Certificate of Need Committee and participated in the development of the Maryland State Health Plan. She also served as a representative to the Healthcare Access and Cost Commission, working on issues of health information privacy and confidentiality. As a member of the Governor’s Task Force on the Electronic Health Record, she contributed to the development of standards for the Statewide Electronic Health Record. Her international work in health services and informatics provided educational direction for the Canadian Health Services Center, the Pan American Health Organization, the Saudi Arabian Health Services, and several Taiwanese universities. Mills is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.

Cory Stephens, DNP, RN-BC, CPHIMS, FHIMSS, is an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing. Previously, he worked at the National Institutes of Health as a nurse consultant - informatics. Throughout his career, Stephens has developed custom clinical decision support in support of clinical research; modernized an in-person electronic health record (EHR) training program to one that is role-based and accessible anywhere in an online learning management system; implemented a mobile EHR application; designed another mobile app for nurses and other clinicians to access reference materials; guided the development of a homegrown telehealth program at the start of the pandemic; pushed the organization forward in its adoption of Microsoft 365 applications by teaching nurses, other clinicians, and staff how and why to use modern communication and collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams, Bookings, and Forms; and taught nurses and other information technology staff how to optimize and automate workflows using Power Automate. Stephens has enjoyed precepting nursing informatics graduate students and preparing them for successful careers. Stephens completed his DNP focused on strategies for nurse leaders to promote the integration of information and communication technologies like Microsoft Teams into nursing practice.

Sophia Henry, MS, RN, brings almost 30 years of health care expertise to her role as a clinical consultant at Beckman Coulter, specializing in clinical decision support (CDS). Previously, she held a similar position at Stocastic before its acquisition in 2022. With her 22 years of experience in the Adult Emergency Department at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Ms. Henry’s leadership as lead triage nurse and lead shift coordinator/flow manager drove improvements in patient flow and outcomes. A sought-after speaker nationally and internationally, Henry shares insights on triage improvement techniques and the integration of AI/ML into practice. She advocates for nursing input into technology decisions to reduce health care disparities. Ms. Henry, a wife, mother, and business owner from Jamaica, also enjoys traveling, reading, and weightlifting.

Stacey Brull, DNP, RN, NE-BC, is the vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore. Prior to this position, Dr. Brull was the senior director of the Center of Clinical Excellence and responsible for achieving Magnet status three times. She has published several articles on gamification and has presented nationally on topics such as interactive education, Magnet status, and shared governance. Dr. Brull earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree at the University of Maryland School of Nursing and is a Magnet appraiser for the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

Carolyn Rutledge, PhD, FNP-BC, FAAN, is a professor, eminent scholar, and executive director of faculty development, innovation, and research in the School of Nursing at Old Dominion University (ODU) and a professor of family medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School, where she has maintained a clinical practice for 32 years. She has published over 70 articles and served as an investigator on 32 grant applications, totaling over $27 million, focusing on new models of care such as telehealth to provide care to rural and underserved populations. She has been responsible for developing nurse-led clinics to care for the homeless in Virginia Beach and a mobile clinic that provides care to rural and underserved populations in Southampton County, Virginia. Dr. Rutledge led the development of the Telehealth Certification for Providers and Educators, a national training program for telehealth delivery and education. She is a sought-after national consultant in telehealth education and published the book, Telehealth Essentials for Advanced Practice Nursing. She is the co-director of the Center for Telehealth Innovation, Education, and Research at ODU and led the development of the ODU Center for Interprofessional Education. In 2014, Dr. Rutledge received the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award, the highest honor provided to faculty in Virginia, and was selected as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.

Erin Denholm, MSN, RN, is a visionary strategic and operational health care executive with over 35 years of experience as a CEO and senior executive in regional and national health systems. She is nationally known for changing the trajectory of organizations by intertwining deep clinical and operational experience with business acumen to transcend the hurdles of regulation and bureaucracy. Her entrepreneurial mindset has made her a distinctive voice in health care, and she is widely regarded for her exceptional leadership in disruptive technologies that have been critical in expanding the breadth and depth of clinical excellence in the home care, hospice, and palliative care spaces. For her entire career, Ms. Denholm has been a pioneer at the forefront of testing and implementing highly successful innovative care delivery models and solutions that allow patients and their families more control over their care and provide higher satisfaction and better outcomes while reducing health care costs significantly. Her reputation as a luminary innovator is grounded in substantial operating experience, having served in system leadership roles for Centura Health and Trinity Health. At Centura Health, Ms. Denholm was responsible for integrating a disparate collection of home care and hospice agencies across the state and cultivating an inclusive cultural transformation that resulted in the highest associate engagement scores in the system. This consolidation of the post-acute care enterprise created value-added services for population health programs, making the organization a dynamic partner with insurers, Medicare, and patients. At Trinity Health, an $18 billion national organization, Ms. Denholm served as the system leader over most home-based care operations. She engineered a $7.4 million turnaround, increasing value, designing new services, and developing new revenue streams while improving patient satisfaction and reducing the 30- day readmission rate. Ms. Denholm has a deep understanding of change management and an exceptional eye for finding and cultivating uncharted opportunities that elevate an entire system, not simply a division. Currently, she is part of a dynamic team at Dispatch Health, transforming health care. Dispatch Health provides care in 50-plus markets today, providing a system of care around individual homes. Substantially evolving a new specialty in professional nursing, this ecosystem utilizes remote capabilities to provide virtual triage nursing; 24/7 virtual nursing care; in home-hospital level, high acuity nursing care; and nursing navigation services.

Tadele “Tad” Worku, MS, RN, FNP-BC, is a family nurse practitioner, educator, musician, and, most recently, a mission coach at Inland Empire Health Plan, the largest nonprofit Medicare and Medicaid plan in the country. Mr. Worku, at his core, is committed to his purpose and serving those around him. He is a DAISY Award winner, the Vanderbilt University (Tennessee) Outstanding Family Nurse Practitioner Student of the Year, Loma Linda University (California) Health Emergency Nurse of the Year, Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital Child Life Hero awardee, and more. Mr. Worku describes every recognition as a blessing and affirmation that he is doing purposeful work. He is also in the inaugural class of ambassadors for the AARP Center for Health Equity through Nursing. In 2012, he was set to embark on an international tour and release his debut pop album, which he received grant funding to produce. Instead, he chose to cancel his tour, return his funding, and step away from music entirely in search of the more profound calling he had not yet found. Despite the benefits of performing, Mr. Worku said without a connection to purpose, he did not feel at peace. Over a decade later, he describes this decision as the best he’s ever made. That decision led him into emergency nursing at a Level 1 trauma center in Southern California. He credits his six years as an ER nurse as the foundation of the music he began to write to process his experiences as a clinician. In 2020, Mr. Worku reunited with his award-winning team of musicians to step back into the music world and release his debut album. He used his stories and experiences in health care to create new music that inspires hope in listeners.

Adriane Burgess, PhD, RNC-OB, CCE, C-ONQS, CPHQ, C-LSSGB, FAWHONN, is a registered nurse with over 25 years of experience working in academic, leadership, and maternal child health clinical settings. She holds certifications in obstetrics and health care quality. Currently, she works as the Director of Perinatal and Neonatal Quality and Patient Safety at the Maryland Patient Safety Center where she leads several statewide initiatives to promote quality and safety in maternal and neonatal care. Dr. Burgess works actively to publish and present her work. She has won several national awards for perinatal quality and safety. Most recently, Dr. Burgess received AWHONN’s Award for Excellence in Leadership and was inducted as a Fellow in the Association of Women’s Health Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses. She is passionate about improving patient safety and the quality of care provided in hospitals and health systems.

Casey Embert, BA, is the nursing program director at the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS). In her role, Ms. Embert collaborates with nurse leaders to develop and implement organizational solutions for nurse engagement, recruitment, and retention. She manages all aspects of system-wide nursing student recruitment programs, including the UMMS Academy of Clinical Essentials, and facilitates their expansion to nursing schools across the state of Maryland.

Crystal DeVance-Wilson, PhD, MBA, PHCNS-BC, is a board-certified public health clinical nurse specialist with 30 years of experience working in acute care and community settings with diverse populations. She is an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing (UMSON), where she has been employed for the past 14 years teaching in the graduate and undergraduate programs. Dr. DeVance-Wilson is the department vice chair of UMSON at the Universities at Shady Grove and also serves as the director of the Maryland Nursing Workforce Center, where she works to address issues affecting Maryland nurses, nursing students, schools of nursing, and health care organizations. Dr. DeVance-Wilson is a member of several national organizations, including the Association for Public Health Nurse Educators, the American Public Health Association, and Sigma international honor society for nurses. She has served on committees, delivered podium and poster presentations, and collaborated on publications. In addition to national committee membership, she has been elected or appointed to several UMSON committees, including as chair of the Faculty Council. Dr. DeVance-Wilson has also held leadership positions in several community organizations and is currently the immediate past chair of the Montgomery County Commission on Health. Dr. DeVance-Wilson’s research interests include Black men’s health, health policy, and health disparities.

Sarah L. Szanton, PhD, ANP, APRN, FAAN, is the dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and the Patricia M. Davidson Health Equity and Social Justice Endowed Professor. She holds a joint appointment in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Her main research strands are improving health equity among older adults, aging in community, the effects of financial strain on health, and structural racial discrimination and resilience. She co-developed the CAPABLE program, which has been tested in randomized trials and scaled to 45 new sites in 23 states. She is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Nursing, was a 2019 Heinz Award winner for the Human Condition, and is a PBS Organization’s “Next Avenue Influencers in Aging.” She has published more than 160 papers and been principal investigator on more than $20 million in grants. Szanton completed undergraduate work in African-American Studies at Harvard University and earned a bachelor’s degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. She holds a nurse practitioner master’s degree from the University of Maryland School of Nursing and a doctorate from Johns Hopkins University. She is core faculty at the Center on Aging and Health and the Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions and adjunct faculty with the Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy. She has been by funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Innovation Center, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the John A. Hartford Foundation, the Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation, the St. David’s Foundation, and the AARP Foundation.

Tracie Risling, PhD, RN, is an associate professor in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Calgary, the vice president of the Canadian Nurses Association, and the past president of the Canadian Nursing Informatics Association. With a practice background in pediatric nursing, Dr. Risling leads a patient-oriented program of health and nursing informatics research, including study on artificial intelligence, social media, co-design, and the use of texting for wellness and workforce support. She is a passionate advocate for increased nursing engagement in the development, use, and evaluation of digital health solutions.

Kimberly Ford, BS, is the assistant grant administrator for the Nurse Support Program (NSP) II, which is administered by the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) and funded by the Health Services Cost Review Commission (HSCRC). Previously, she served as the grant coordinator for MHEC’s Office of Student Financial Assistance on the federal Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) scholarship grant. Prior to working at MHEC, Ms. Ford worked as a research and budget analyst at the Maryland Association of Community Colleges (MACC) and the Maryland Independent College & University Association. While working for MACC, she helped administer federal grant funds to each community college in Maryland to purchase nursing simulation equipment. Along with receiving her Bachelor of Science in Management in non-profit organizations with a concentration in political science and government from the University of Maryland, College Park, she worked on state senatorial scholarships for nurses and teachers during her college internship in the Maryland Legislature. She has worked on all of the NSP II Certified Nurse Educator workshops with the National League for Nursing since 2018.

Susan Finlayson, DNP, RN, is recognized as a national expert on leadership development and strategic planning. She has more than 30 years of patient care and operational experience and is currently senior vice president of operations at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore. During her tenure at Mercy Medical Center, Dr. Finlayson was responsible for attaining Magnet status recognition, moving into a new hospital, as well as having Mercy be recognized as one of the top hospitals in Maryland. Dr. Finlayson was a part-time instructor at Johns Hopkins University, where she received her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree, and is certified in gamification from the University of Pennsylvania. She has published several articles on leadership development, Magnet status, and gamification and has co-authored the book Fundamentals of Magnet Toolkit. She has presented locally, regionally, and at many national and international conferences on the use of gaming and virtual reality in health care. Because of her many outstanding achievements in the nursing profession, Dr. Finlayson has been recognized twice as one of the top 100 women in Maryland.

Laura Schenk, DNP, RN, CNE, is the grant administrator for NSP II, which is administered by MHEC and funded by HSCRC. Previously, she worked as an academic progression coordinator and an assistant professor of nursing at Harford Community College, where she gained experience as a course coordinator, NSP II project director, and interim dean. Along with receiving her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Nursing from Stevenson University, Dr. Schenk graduated with a Doctor of Nursing Practice with a concentration in leadership from Salisbury University. She is a registered nurse with a clinical background in orthopedic/medical-surgical nursing and community health. She is also a certified nurse educator with nine years of teaching experience in the classroom, clinical, and simulation/lab settings.