ALISO VIEJO, Calif. – July 7, 2020 – The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), the world’s largest specialty nursing organization, announces its board of directors for fiscal year 2021, with terms effective July 1, 2020.
Elizabeth Bridges, PhD, RN, CCNS, FCCM, FAAN, is the new president of the AACN board of directors. She is professor, biobehavioral nursing and health systems, at University of Washington School of Nursing, Seattle, and clinical nurse researcher at University of Washington Medical Center. Bridges’ professional research focuses on two areas: care of patients during long-distance military aeromedical evacuation and the integration of hemodynamics in the care of critically ill patients. In 2014, she retired with the rank of colonel after 30 years of service in the USAF Nurse Corps.
A member of AACN since 1986 and a board member since 2016, Bridges serves on the editorial boards of American Journal of Critical Care and AACN Advanced Critical Care. She frequently presents at the National Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition and other conferences.
“I am honored to serve as AACN’s president as we move toward a future we can create together – facing the challenges brought by COVID-19, economic hardships, and the long-term effects of social injustice and racism,” Bridges said. “In the Year of the Nurse, when the world celebrates us as the most trusted profession, they’ve also learned that the care we give every day as acute and critical care nurses is unique. This Is Our Moment - All In.”
Beth Wathen, MSN, APRN, CCRN-K, begins a one-year term as president-elect. She has been a clinical practice specialist in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) at Children’s Hospital Colorado, Aurora, since 2005. She oversees the PICU’s Quality Program and serves as organizational lead for the Code/RRT Program, Sepsis Task Force and nursing lead for the Clinical and Operational Effectiveness Committee.
Current board member John Gallagher, DNP, RN, CCNS, CCRN-K, TCRN, RRT, begins a one-year term as secretary. He is the trauma manager and a clinical nurse specialist at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Philadelphia.
Theresa Davis, PhD, RN, NE-BC, CHTP, FAAN, also a current board member, begins a one-year term as treasurer. She is the clinical operations director of enVision eICU at Inova Health System, Falls Church, Virginia.
Joining the board as directors are Alvin Jeffery, PhD, RN-BC, CCRN-K, FNP-BC; Paula Levett, MS, BSN, RN, CCRN-K, Rebekah Marsh, BSN, RN, CCRN, and Katie Schatz, MSN, ARNP, NP-C, ACHPN. They each serve a three-year term.
Jeffery is an assistant professor of nursing and biomedical informatics at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee. He leverages machine learning and data science techniques for developing prediction models, and he incorporates qualitative methods for exploring how to implement probability-based clinical decision support tools for nurses.
Levett is a nursing practice leader in the pediatric intensive care unit at University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital in Iowa City. She designs and administers educational programs, assists with the professional development of staff nurses, facilitates clinical improvements and brings evidence-based practice to the bedside.
Marsh is a clinical nurse educator, acute care/telemetry, at Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington Medicine, Seattle. She also serves as clinical educational liaison for the hospital’s three acute care medical-surgical/telemetry nursing wards.
Schatz is clinical quality coordinator for the sepsis program and a nurse practitioner with the Advanced Heart Disease and Transplant Program at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center and Holy Family Hospital, both in Spokane, Washington. Her diverse clinical expertise includes palliative care, cardiac intensive care, cardiac transplant, and flight and transport nursing.
Returning to the AACN board with Dana Woods, MBA, AACN chief executive officer, are the following directors:
- Jennifer Adamski, DNP, APRN, ACNP-BC, CCRN, clinical assistant professor and director of the Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (ACNP) Program at Emory University’s Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Atlanta, and a critical care ACNP for Cleveland Clinic’s Critical Care Flight Team. She also serves a concurrent one-year term on the AACN Certification Corporation board.
- Amanda Bettencourt, PhD, APRN, CCRN-K, ACCNS-P, postdoctoral research fellow at University of Michigan School of Nursing, Ann Arbor, with a joint appointment in the National Clinician Scholars Program
- Anna Dermenchyan, MSN, RN, CCRN-K, director in the Department of Medicine Quality at UCLA Health, Los Angeles
- Rose Hata, DNP, MBA, RN, APRN, CCRN-K, NEA-BC, director of Queen Emma Nursing Institute at The Queen’s Medical Center, Honolulu
- Kiersten Henry, DNP, ACNP-BC, CCNS, CCRN-CMC, chief advanced practice clinician at MedStar Montgomery Medical Center in Olney, Maryland, who also serves a concurrent one-year term on the AACN Certification Corporation board
About the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses: For more than 50 years, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) has been dedicated to acute and critical care nursing excellence. The organization’s vision is to create a healthcare system driven by the needs of patients and their families in which acute and critical care nurses make their optimal contribution. AACN is the world's largest specialty nursing organization, with more than 120,000 members and over 200 chapters in the United States.
American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, 27071 Aliso Creek Road, Aliso Viejo, CA 92656; 949-362-2000; www.aacn.org; facebook.com/aacnface; twitter.com/aacnme