Christy Adams, RN, BSN, MPH, PhD(c)
Christy Adams has served as the Trauma Prevention and Outreach Coordinator at UC Davis Health for over 10 years. Her previous clinical experience includes 17 years of emergency, critical care and transport nursing. She has a Masters of Public Health and is a PhD candidate at the UC Davis Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing. She co-chairs the Safe States Alliance Hospital Injury Prevention Special Interest Group and a member of the American Trauma Society Injury Prevention Committee.Sandra Strack Arabian, NREMT, MBA, CSTR, CAISS
Sandra Strack Arabian is the Trauma Program Manager at Tufts Medical Center, a level I ACS verified Trauma Center in Boston, MA . She is a senior adjunct faculty member at Cambridge College, Boston, MA and an independent, international consultant. She has over 25 years of proven, successful, leadership skills in enterprise management with a strong focus on data management and analysis. She has authored and co-authored several Trauma related research and has presented her work at the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma Annual Scientific Conference, The Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma, The New England Trauma Consortium and The American Health Information Association (AHIMA Webinar) and in many other venues.
Samantha Baker, AS, CAISS
Samantha Baker is a CAISS certified Trauma Registrar with the University of Louisville Hospital’s Trauma Institute in Louisville, Kentucky. She has over a decade of healthcare-specific data management experience, and obtained an Associate of Science degree in Public Health in 2013. In 2016, her experience led her into the specialized field of trauma data and she continues to further her trauma registry knowledge and experience at a leading Level 1 academic medical center today.
Vicki Bennett, MSN, RN,CEN, CCRN
Vicki is currently the Trauma Service Line Administrator for Banner Health. She was a Trauma Program Manager/Director for over 25 years prior to assuming this role in a full time capacity in 2016. Her undergraduate degree in nursing and her master’s degree in adult critical care nursing with a focus on trauma nursing were completed from the University of Alabama. A special interest in EMS during her early career prompted completion of the EMT and Paramedic programs at the University of Alabama and led to her becoming a licensed paramedic, followed by national registry certification. Having worked in the prehospital setting and in Level I, II and pediatric trauma centers, she has a wide variety of experience spanning clinical practice, education, and leadership roles including prehospital as a paramedic and flight nurse, emergency department nurse, critical care nurse, educator, CNS, trauma program manager/director, and currently, as a trauma service line leader for a large healthcare system.Vicki remains active at the local, state and national levels and holds membership in many professional organizations. She currently serves on the AZ State Trauma Advisory Board. She is a long standing member of STN, former Board member, and has served as a section reviewer and member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of Trauma Nursing since 2001. As one of the STN/ACS COT liaisons, she holds an appointment to the ACS COT EMS subcommittee. Vicki is an EAST member and has served on the Guidelines Committee since 2010. She is currently, co-chairing the EAST-STN collaborative for guideline development. She has presented on a variety of trauma topics to local and national multidisciplinary audiences and remains an instructor, faculty and/or coordinator for TNCC, ATCN, ATLS, RTTDC and the ATS TPM course. In addition, she serves as a trauma center site reviewer for the American College of Surgeons as well as many states.
Lauren Besednjak, BSN, RN
Lauren Besednjak has worked for Kentucky Children’s Hospital as a registered nurse for 14 years. Originally from Louisville,KY she fell in love with Lexington while attending school there. Graduating in 2005 from Midway College with an Associate degree in Nursing, Lauren began caring for children at the former UK Children’s Hospital, and in 2010 received her BSN from the University of Kentucky. Continuing her passion for working with and advocating for children in Kentucky, she enrolled in the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) program with the Lexington Police Department. In 2013 Lauren became one of six Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners with the Lexington Police Department, and it was this position that she was able to combine her passion for pediatric patients and forensic nursing. March of 2016 Lauren began working with the Division of Pediatric Forensic Medicine at University of Kentucky as a forensic nurse, in addition to taking on the role of nurse manager for the division. The Division of Pediatric Forensic Medicine offers assessment and treatment for pediatric and adolescent patients with concern for possible child maltreatment. Our goal is to identify child maltreatment and conditions that mimic abuse while providing education and resources to families and community partners. It is with this goal in mind, we strive to protect and advocate for the safety of the children in our communities.
Andrew C. Bernard, MD, FACS
Andrew Bernard, MD, FACS serves as the Trauma Medical Director for University of Kentucky Healthcare and Section Chief for Trauma and Acute Care Surgery in the Department of Surgery in the College of Medicine. He's President of the Medical Staff. He chairs the ICU Committee and Organ Donation and Transplantation Action Council and Co-Chairs the Transfusion Safety Committee. He is President of the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma, the nation's largest organization of trauma providers.
Joseph Bobadilla, MD, FACS
Joseph Bobadilla received his medical degree in 2003 from the University of Wisconsin, School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison. He trained in general surgery at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, and completed an additional two years of research training in vascular mediated immunobiology after transplantation. He received a capstone degree in human clinical trials design and development from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. He then completed a fellowship in vascular surgery at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, Madison.His clinical interests include open and endovascular aneurysm repair, complex aortic surgery, prevention of paraplegia related to aortic surgery, carotid surgery and stenting, and the treatment of venous disease. He is board certified by the American Board of Surgery in Vascular Surgery and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
Cynthia Blank-Reid, RN, MSN, CEN
Cindy has been a nurse for 35 years. She received her BSN from Villanova University and her MSN from Widener University. She has worked on a surgical floor, ICU, the ED, pre-hospital arena and a Trauma Program Manager. For the past 16 years she has been the Trauma CNS at Temple University Hospital. She has published and lectured on a multitude of topics. Cindy has been a member of STN since 1990 and served on several committees. She currently serves a the Immediate Past-President.
Beth Broering, MSN, RN, CEN, CCRN, TCRN, CCNS, CAISS, FAEN
Beth Broering has more than 30 years of experience in trauma and critical care. Beth has worked as a trauma clinical nurse specialist, trauma coordinator and is currently the Trauma/Burn Program Manager at VCU Medical Center in Richmond Virginia. Beth has also worked internationally in the country of Botswana helping to build and open a state of the art not-for-profit hospital.
Kristie Brown, DNP, APRN, ENP-C , FNP-BC
Dr. Kristie Brown is a board certified family nurse practitioner working in the Rees-Jones Trauma Center at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas. She is the Advanced Practice provider (APP) Team Lead for the Surgery Specialty Service Line and manages APPs who work in trauma, orthopedics and general surgery. She also works as an advanced practice provider in trauma services. She serves as the Co-Chairman for the Geriatric Trauma Palliative Care Committee.
Kristen Chreiman, MSN, RN, CCRN, TCRN
Kristen M. Chreiman is currently the Trauma Network and Program Clinical Coordinator for The Division of Trauma, Surgical Critical Care and Emergency Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania Health System in Philadelphia, PA. Her responsibilities include; assisting existing Penn Trauma Network affiliates, PTSF accredited trauma centers and new centers in pursuit of trauma center development and accreditation, establishing best practices, strategic planning for trauma center accreditation goals, coordination of mock surveys and educational opportunities throughout the network. In addition, she is the On-line Editor for the Journal of Trauma Nursing, the official publication for the Society of Trauma Nurses. In this role Kristen supports STN’s strategic goals by maintaining digital social media content and webpage development for the Journal of Trauma Nursing with Wolters Kluwer. Prior to this position she was the Performance Improvement Coordinator for The Trauma Center at Penn, a Regional Resource Level I Adult Trauma Center in Philadelphia. Preceding the PI position, she was an ICU staff nurse in the Trauma and Surgical Intensive Care Unit, formally a Penn STAR flight nurse and a Legal Nurse Consultant. Kristen has served on several local and national committees including the Leadership Committee for STN, the Editorial Board for JTN, the Trauma Registry Committee for the American Trauma Society, and Trauma Registry Committee for the Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation. She has presented locally, regionally, nationally and on various trauma topics including intraosseous access, trauma video review, creating a data registry import from an EPIC EMR, and building a mobile application to improve trauma team communication and onboarding.
John Como, MD, MPH, FACS, FCCM
John J. Como, MD, MPH is a member of the faculty of the Department of Surgery at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio and Professor of Surgery at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Dr. Como received his MD degree from the Robert Wood Johnson (Rutgers) Medical School in Piscataway NJ and completed his residency in General Surgery at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, NY. He then completed a fellowship in Surgical Critical Care and Surgical Traumatology at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, MD. Dr. Como also completed a Master of Public Health Degree at Case Western Reserve University. Dr Como is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a Fellow of the American College of Critical Care Medicine. He is the Associate Trauma Medical Director and Pediatric Trauma Medical Director at MetroHealth. He is currently the President of the Cleveland Surgical Society, the President-Elect of the Ohio Chapter of the American College of Surgeons, and the Chair of the Guidelines Committee for the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma. He has published over 60 publications in peer-reviewed journals, including many practice management guidelines about various surgical and trauma topics.
Kathy Crystal, BSN, RN
Kathy Crystal has worked at Spectrum Health for the past 15 years. She has been an RN for the past 9 years and worked in various areas from Oncology, ICU, ED and the Trauma Department as a Performance Improvement Nurse. She is also a clinical reviewer for the Michigan Trauma Quality Improvement Program. She has a bachelors in Biomedical Science and Nursing and is currently working toward her doctoral degree. Her passion is to improve the care for the geriatric trauma patient.Heather Ditzler, BSN, RN
Heather Ditzler received her BSN degree from York College of Pennsylvania. She has been an RN for 21 years. Heather has worked at Penrose Hospital for 20 years; 7 years on an orthopedic floor, 9 1/2 years in Critical Care, and the last 3 1/2 years in the trauma department. She is is Trauma Program Specialist at Penrose Hospital.Brett Dodd, MSN, RN, CEN, CCRN-K, CFRN,TCRN, CPEN, CNML
Brett Dodd, is the trauma education, injury prevention and outreach coordinator at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA. He also serves as the ATCN Region 9 Director covering California, Arizona, Hawaii, and Nevada.
John M. Draus, Jr., M.D.
John M. Draus, Jr., M.D. serves as Associate Professor, Pediatric Surgery, Medical Director, Pediatric Level I Trauma Program, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, in Lexington, Kentucky. Dr. Draus is a native of Kentucky. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame. He earned his medical degree and completed his general surgery residency and a research fellowship at the University of Louisville. He completed his pediatric surgery fellowship at Riley Children’s Hospital at Indiana University.Dr. Draus joined the Division of Pediatric Surgery at the University of Kentucky in 2010. He is a member of the American College of Surgeons, the American Pediatric Surgical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Pediatric Trauma Society. Dr. Draus has served as the Medical Director of the University of Kentucky’s Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Center since 2015. He is a member of the Kentucky Trauma Advisory Committee and the Kentucky State Committee on Trauma. He is an officer in the Kentucky State Chapter of the American College of Surgeons.
Diane Floyd, RN, MSN, CCRN, TCRN, NE-BC
Diane Floyd is an RN with over 37 years experience in Critical care and leadership. As director and LSS greenbelt at Cooper's Level I Trauma center, Diane has led and participated in a number of projects achieving process and performance improvement. Through this collaborative work with multi-disciplinary teams she has engaged teams and implemented evidence based practice change resulting in enhanced delivery of nursing care and positive patient outcomes.
Paula Halcomb, DNP, APRN, ACNS-BC, TCRN
Paula Halcomb has been a nurse for over 30 years with the majority of her experience in trauma and critical care. She has worked as a staff nurse in trauma critical care, an educator and manager and is currently a Clinical Nurse Specialist for Trauma Surgical Services. She also mentors nurses in clinical practice and practice inquiry projects. Her role is a leadership role in which she routinely collaborates with other disciplines to improve patient care and outcomes and reduce harm.
Elliott Richard Haut, MD, PhD, FACS
Elliott Richard Haut, MD, PhD, FACS is Vice Chair of Quality, Safety, & Service in the Department of Surgery at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. He also has a faculty appointment in the Department of Health Policy & Management at The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is certified in both General Surgery and Surgical Critical Care by the American Board of Surgery. Dr. Haut’s clinical practice at The Johns Hopkins Hospital covers all aspects of trauma and acute care surgery, as well as surgical critical care. Dr. Haut’s research focuses on the diagnosis, prevention and reporting of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE). He was funded by a four-year grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), titled “Does Screening Variability Make DVT an Unreliable Quality Measure of Trauma Care?” He is the principal investigator of multiple large-scale projects: “Preventing Venous Thromboembolism (VTE): Empowering Patients and Enabling Patient-centered Care via Health Information Technology” funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and “Individualized Performance Feedback on Venous Thromboembolism Prevention Practice” funded by an R01 grant AHRQ.Dr. Haut completed his PhD in the Graduate Training Program in Clinical Investigation at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health where he completed a wide variety of coursework including epidemiology, biostatistics, comparative effectiveness research and clinical research design. His dissertation was titled “Preventable Harm from Venous Thromboembolism (VTE)—A New Metric for Quality of Care.”
Dr. Haut is a core faculty member in the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality at Johns Hopkins Medicine. Dr. Haut is the President-Elect of the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST) and recently chaired the Guidelines Committee. He has authored more than 220 peer-reviewed articles, as well as dozens of invited editorials, books and chapters.
Michele Herndon, MSN, RN, CPEN, TCRN
Michele Herndon is the Trauma Program Manager at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, a Level 1 ACS verified Pediatric Trauma Center for both Missouri and Illinois. Michele has worked at St. Louis Children’s Hospital since graduating from nursing school in 2005. She has worked in the Emergency Department, Ambulatory Procedure Center, and started in Trauma Services as a Nurse Coordinator in 2012. Michele enjoys educating on pediatric trauma and has presented at annual meetings for STN and also the Pediatric Trauma Society. Her areas of interest include the care of hospitalized teens (including injury prevention to keep teens OUT of the hospital) and firearm injuries in children.
Lynn Gerber-Smith, RN, MS, TCRN
Lynn Gerber Smith worked at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center for 39 years, A level 1 trauma center with more than 6,000 patients a year. Ms. Smith worked as a Senior Clinical Nurse and Nurse Educator and maintained clinical competence in the Trauma Resuscitation Unit. Lynn Gerber Smith has presented in 41 states and 4 countries since 1983. Most recently she presented at the Society of Trauma Nurses Annual meeting in Portland, OR. Lynn is masters prepared and has her TCRN certification.
John Lunde, DNP, AGACNP/FNP-BC, TCRN, FCCM
Lunde works as a critical care nurse practitioner at a Level II Trauma Center. His background includes 20 years as a critical care flight nurse. His experience with trauma programs includes: Trauma CNS, Trauma Coordinator and Trauma Program Director roles. He obtained his DNP at the University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB), his Family NP from UAB, and his Acute Care from the University of Florida. He holds national certifications in both from ANCC. His specialty certifications include CEN, CCRN, CFRN, and TCRN. He is active at the national level with Society of Critical Care (SCCM) and Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST). His research interest is around delirium in the ICU and injury prevention.
Meghan Marsac, Ph.D.
Dr. Meghan Marsac is a pediatric psychologist at the University of Kentucky and Kentucky Children’s Hospital. She graduated with a Ph.D. clinical psychology from the University of Toledo and completed her internship and fellowship training at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. In addition to patient care and research, Dr. Marsac trains medical providers in how to take a trauma-informed approach to patient care, including caring for themselves. She has given hundreds of talks to professionals and parents on how to support children through medical treatment. Dr. Marsac has published 50 academic articles and 7 book chapters and given hundreds of talks on understanding and promoting adjustment to injury and illness in children and their families. Her work has been published in lead medical journals such as JAMA Pediatrics, Pediatrics, and the Journal of Pediatric Psychology.
Sarah Mattocks, MSN, RN, CRNP, TCRN, NE-BC
Sarah Mattocks is the Trauma Program Manager at UPMC Hamot, a state accredited Level II Trauma Center, in Erie, Pennsylvania. Sarah earned her BSN from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, and her MSN from Gannon University. Sarah's nursing career started the emergency department and includes over 10 years in the role of trauma program coordinator/manager. Sarah is an active member of the Easter Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST) and served as the Society of Trauma Nurses – EAST Foundation Nurse Fellow in 2014. Sarah is the current treasure for the Pennsylvania Trauma Nurse Advisory Council (PATNAC) and has served on various Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation committees. Sarah has been active in the STN for over 10 years, serving in various roles. Sarah is the current president-elect of the STN board of directors.
Todd Maxson, MD
Dr. Todd Maxson is the Surgeon in Chief of Trauma and Burn and a Professor of Pediatric Surgery at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. Dr. Maxson completed medical school at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. He completed his general surgical residency at the University of Arkansas and pediatric surgical training at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He was on faculty in Houston before moving to the University of Texas –Southwestern in Dallas to begin the trauma program at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas, the first level I pediatric trauma program in the southwest United States to be verified by the American College of Surgeons. He then moved to Austin, Texas to build the trauma service at the new Dell Children’s Medical Center, taking this facility to Level I status as well. He serves the ACS as a pediatric trauma representative on two committees and as Chair of the Verification Review Committee.
Jane McCormack, RN, BSN, CSTR, TCRN
Jane McCormack is the Trauma Program Manager at an ACS Level I Trauma Center, and has been for over 20 years. She is a self described 'data geek' who firmly believes that 'good' registry data drives the trauma program.
Amanda McFarlan, RN
Amanda McFarlan is the Trauma Program Registry Manager & Quality Assurance Specialist at St. Michael's. She began her career at St. Michael’s 24 years ago as an RN in the Trauma and Neurosurgery ICU and since 2007 has managed the trauma registry. Amanda is also the NSQIP Registry Site Manager for St. Michael’s and St. Joseph’s Health Care Centre. She is an Advanced Trauma Care for Nurses Course Director and currently serves as a member of the Ontario Trauma Advisory Committee, chairs the Ontario Trauma Registry Advisory Committee, Chairs the Trauma Association of Canada Performance Improvement Committee and is a member of the Trauma Association of Canada Board of Directors.
Jonathan Messing, MSN, ACNP-BC, TCRN, CCRN
Jon Messing is a nurse practitioner with the Center for Trauma and Critical Care at the George Washington University Hospital in Washington, DC. He completed his BSN at Villanova University in 2007 and his MSN as an acute care nurse practitioner at the University of Pennsylvania in 2010. He is a member of the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma and currently serves on their advanced practice provider workshop development task force. Along with one of his colleagues, Jon created GW’s first advanced practitioner transition-to-practice program for new NPs and PAs interested in trauma and critical care, which is currently in its fourth year. Jon also serves as part time faculty in the George Washington University School of Nursing’s Adult Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program. In 2017, Jon received the Society of Trauma Nurses’ inaugural clinical nurse excellence award. He remains an active advanced practitioner member of the Society of Trauma Nurses and he continues to champion the role of APRNs everywhere.
David Meysenburg, MSN, RN, EMT-P, TCRN, CFRN
David Meysenburg is the Division Director of Emergency and Trauma Services at UF Health Jacksonville, an ACS verified Level 1 trauma center in Jacksonville, Florida. His background includes critical care, emergency department/trauma resuscitation unit, and flight nursing. David has been a member of STN and an ATCN Faculty member since 2003. He is a longstanding member of the ATCN Committee and assumed the role of ATCN Chair in October of 2018. He also is serving his 3rd consecutive year on the conference planning committee for TraumaCon.
Ian Mutchnick, MD, MS
Ian Mutchnick is currently an attending pediatric neurosurgeon at the Norton Children’s Hospital and Norton Neuroscience Institute with an appointment as Assistant Professor of Pediatric Neurosurgery at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, Department of Neurosurgery. He grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan and attended the University of Michigan for both undergraduate and medical school, graduating with an MD in 2003. His path to medical school was a bit longer than usual. After graduating from University of Michigan with honors in History, he joined the Peace Corps, serving as a math and science teacher in Tanzania, East Africa and becoming fluent in the Swahili language. Seeing so many underserved people there inspired him to pursue medicine - a profession that allows an individual to help others regardless of their culture or place of origin.After completing the prerequisites for medical school, Dr Mutchnick spent two years studying decision making at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. “Decision making - good decision making - is the very heart of the patient experience,” believes Dr Mutchnick, “helping people understand what is at stake and allowing them to apply their own perspectives and values to that decision is the second most important thing I do.” Safe surgery is the first! Dr Mutchnick has studied what kinds of information are helpful to patients making important medical decisions (Mutchnick et al, 2010) and in his encounters with patients focuses on helping them to understand what is going on. “A good decision is one that leaves you with peace - even when all your alternatives are worrisome. This happens when you understand what is wrong, what your options are with their risks and benefits and you are empowered to make the best decision for you and your child.” He welcomes patients and families seeking second opinions.
While Dr Mutchnick practices all kinds of pediatric neurosurgery, he believes that surgeons get better faster when they do more of a limited type of surgery. While cerebrospinal fluid shunts, Chiari malformations, tethered cords and trauma form a large part of what he cares for, he has taken up a more specialized practice as well. He is an active part of the craniofacial program at Norton Children’s Hospital and works closely with Dr Scott Rapp, pediatric plastic surgery, on even the most complex cases. He is also the Surgical Chief of the Pediatric Epilepsy program focusing on stimulator implantation (vagal nerve and responsive neurostimulation) and brain resections that help patients with medically refractory seizures. He works closely with the Medical Chief of the Pediatric Epilepsy program, Dr Samir Karia.
Dr Mutchnick has several research and humanitarian interests. Chief among them is an interest in the neuroscience of human conflict. He regularly provides free pediatric neurosurgical care to children in the West Bank and Gaza and is developing research protocols to understand how children deal with and recover from trauma. He is also interested in how people identify as part of a group and how that changes their understanding of information - a key part of human conflict. Together with a pediatric neurosurgeon at Dartmouth, he is looking at how best to put information together to help patients make good decisions about simple tethered cords - a condition for which there is no way to be sure that a patient does or does not have. Finally, he is researching alternative uses of vagal nerve stimulation - external stimulation for status epilepticus as well as VNS for inflammatory bowel disease.
Lindsay Ragsdale, MD, FAAP, FAAHPM
Dr. Lindsay Ragsdale graduated medical school and pediatric residency from the University of Kentucky and completed her fellowship training in Hospice and Palliative Medicine at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She is board certified in both Pediatrics and Hospice and Palliative Medicine. She is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and the Division Chief of Pediatric Palliative Care and Director of the Pediatric Advanced Care Team. She is a leader in her field through her work in the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Her research interests include pain management, trauma-informed care, and provider burnout and self-care. She clinically dedicates her time to caring for seriously ill children and their families helping to maximize quality of life.Mary Raley, BSN, RN, CEN, TCRN
As an emergency and trauma nurse for 40 years, in both staff and in leadership roles, Mary knows the positive impact that injury prevention programs have on the people in her community. Employed at St. Vincent Evansville, a Level II Adult and Pediatric Trauma Center, Mary is passionate about her role as the Injury Prevention and Trauma Education Coordinator, developing and implementing IP programs such as the “Standing Together to Prevent Falls” program for older adults and her newest project the Indiana ATV Safety Collaboration.Mary is the past chair of the Vanderburgh-Warrick Safe Kids Coalition, a Child Passenger Safety Technician, and an AARP Smart Driver Instructor. She has been featured on local TV talk shows, a presenter at the Kentucky Falls Prevention Summit, and at the Indiana Injury Prevention Advisory Council Annual Conference. In 2017, she was a presenter at the world-wide Safe Kids PrevCon. Over the past ten years, Mary has fitted hundreds of bicycle helmets and child passenger restraints, but her proudest moment was testifying before the Indiana Senate in support of HEA 1200 ATV helmet law for youth under the age of 18.
Mary regularly teaches in TNCC, ENCP, PALS, ATCN, and the Illinois Trauma Nurse Specialist Course. She is an active member of the KY Pediatric Emergency Care Coalition steering committee, the immediate past-president for the Kentucky Emergency Nurses Association and for 2019 is the Kentucky State Injury, Quality, Safety, and Injury Prevention chair. She currently is in her second year as a member of the national ENA Advocacy Advisory Council, which is charged to review and identify public policy as it relates to advocacy in emergency nursing.
Kristen Ray, MSN, RN, TCRN
Kristen Ray is the Clinical Quality Nurse Leader at UF Health for the Trauma/ Surgical/ Neuro ICU in Jacksonville, Florida. She moved to Baltimore, MD in 2007, where she worked at R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center. In 2015, she moved to Newark, NJ, where she worked as the Assistant Trauma Register Coordinator for the New Jersey Trauma Center at University Hospital. In 2016, moving to Virginia where she was the Trauma Clinical Nurse Educator at Inova Fairfax Medical Campus’ Level 1 trauma center.
Zach Robinson, MPA, EMT-P
Zach Robinson is the trauma outreach and injury prevention coordinator at University of Utah Hospital. Before joining the trauma team, Zach was a firefighter/paramedic and an engineer/ paramedic for Sandy City Fire Department. Zach also worked as a flight paramedic for AirMed. He graduated from the University of Utah with a Masters of Public Administration in 2013, and an undergraduate degree in Political Science in 2005. Zach also serves our community as a City Councilmember for Sandy City.
Kathryn Schroeter, PhD, RN, CNE, CNOR
Kathryn Schroeter is a nurse scientist and clinical ethicist at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee, WI. Dr. Schroeter is an associate professor at Marquette University College of Nursing and also an adjunct assistant professor at the Center for Bioethics & Medical Humanities at the Medical College of Wisconsin. As a member of the ANA Steering Committee for the revision of the Code of Ethics for Nurses she is a contributing author of the new ANA Code. She is the editor of the Journal of Trauma Nursing and authored the book "Practical Ethics for Nurses and Nursing Students."
Kara Scott, DNP, APRN, CPNP-PC
Kara Scott was born and raised in Louisville, KY. She received her BSN from Purdue University in 2010. Following graduation she worked as an RN for Norton Healthcare on a pediatric medical-surgical unit and also in pre-admission testing while pursing her DNP at UK. In December 2015 she graduated from UK with her DNP. She is certified through the Pediatric Nursing Certification Board as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. After getting her DNP she accepted a position at University of Kentucky in Adolescent Medicine. She held that position for 17 months prior to moving to her current position at UK as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner in Pediatric Forensic Medicine.
Elizabeth Seislove, MSN, RN
Elizabeth “Betsy” Seislove is currently the Assistant Vice President for Trauma Services with the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) in Nashville, TN. Her responsibilities include assisting HCA verified, upgrading or inaugural trauma programs with accreditation processes, standards of optimal care along with research and evidenced practice throughout the enterprise. Prior to this position she was the Director of the Trauma Program at Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, PA, a Regional Level I Adult Trauma Center, a Level II Pediatric Trauma Center and an ABA Accredited Burn Center. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing from Widener University and her Master’s Degree in Nursing from Villanova University. Betsy is the Past President of the Society of Trauma Nurses, previous chair of the ATCN committee and neuro significant interest group and have served on several local and national board of directors including the Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation (PTSF), and member of the EAST Foundation Board. She has presented locally, regionally, nationally and internationally on various trauma topics.
Ronald M. Stewart, MD
Ronald M. Stewart completed medical school and surgical residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. He then completed a Trauma and Surgical Critical Care Fellowship at the University of Tennessee in Memphis. Returning to San Antonio in 1993, he established and build University Health System’s trauma program. He currently serves as the Chair of the Department of Surgery, holding the Dr. Witten B. Russ Endowed Chair in Surgery at UT Health San Antonio.Over the past three decades, he has actively led the development of an integrated civilian-military trauma system that serves all of South Texas, covering more than 26,000 square miles.
In 2001 Dr. Stewart was appointed by then Governor George W. Bush to the Texas Governors EMS and Trauma Advisory Council where he served for 15 years as the Chair of the Trauma Systems Committee. He was a founding member and the first Chair of the National Trauma Institute. For the past 20 years he has served on the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Committee on Trauma (COT), serving at the as the national Chair of the ACS Committee on Trauma from March, 2014 to March, 2018. He is currently the ACS’s Medical Director of Trauma Programs.
In 2013 Dr. Stewart was the recipient of the National Safety Council’s Surgeons Award for Service to Safety, and the American College of Surgeon's Arthur Ellenberger Award for Excellence in State Advocacy. He is the immediate past President of the Southwestern Surgical Congress and the President of the Texas Surgical Society.
During his tenure as the ACS COT Chair, he and the COT have spearheaded a plan to implement a National Trauma Action Plan aimed at eliminating preventable trauma deaths by 1) improving trauma systems, 2) increasing high quality trauma research,3) increasing the quality of trauma patient data and 4) advancing trauma education and training in both military and civilian settings. Additionally, he and the COT have worked to lead an approach to firearm injury prevention that has encouraged a collegial, professional and substantive dialogue from surgeons and citizens from all points of view with the goal of reducing the burden of firearm injury and death.
Gigi Taylor, MSN, RN, TCRN, CEN
Gigi has been a career ED nurse for 33 years and has been at UT Medical Center, a Level I Trauma Center, for the past 25 years. She holds her Masters of Science in Nursing, and certifications for CEN and TCRN and currently works as the Trauma Outreach Coordinator. With her passion in trauma nursing she serves as course coordinator and instructor trainer for TNCC and teaches in many other venues including ATCN, ENPC, regional EMS education, and guest lecturing at symposiums and luncheons.Debbie Lyn Toomey, RN, BSN, CIPP
Debbie Lyn Toomey has been a Registered Nurse at Tufts Medical Center for over 30 years. She has varied experience in adult medical surgery, oncology, cardiology, anesthesia, and trauma. Debbie is a 2016 Tufts Medical Center Nurse Fellowship receipt. She created a mindfulness training for medical-surgical nurses for with stress reduction and wellbeing. She tested her mindfulness training in 2017 when she did a randomized pilot study. Debbie is also a mind-body practitioner and author of the book, The Happiness Result- More Time, More Health, More Love, More Success.She is currently the Injury Prevention Coordinator in the Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery.
Beth Torres, PhD, RN, CCRN
Beth Torres has more than 30 years of nursing experience in critical care, performance improvement and leadership. Beth is currently a trauma nurse clinician with VCU Medical Center with a role focusing on performance improvement. Beth co-leads the trauma PI meetings with in the trauma program.
Debi Tuggle, AD, RN, CEN
Debi has been in nursing for over 20 years with 13 of those in emergency nursing at UT Medical Center. For the past 5 years, Debi has been working with the Trauma Program at UT Medical Center as the Injury Prevention/Pediatric Trauma Coordinator where she has done a lot of guest lecturing in the region on her passions pediatric trauma care and injury prevention. She is a a course coordinator/instructor for ATCN and TNCC as well as serves as faculty for multiple other courses offered locally.