AACN’s 50th president, board members begin terms

Megan Brunson, MSN, RN, CNL, CCRN-CSC, is the new president of the AACN board of directors. She is the night shift supervisor in the cardiovascular ICU at Medical City Dallas Hospital, a position she has held since 2007. During more than 20 years as a night shift nurse, she has focused on securing professional development resources for nurses in a 24/7 care environment.

“I am humbled and privileged to serve as AACN’s 50th president,” Brunson said in the statement. “I look forward to traveling around the country for the next year meeting nurses who are unwavering, unmatched and unshakeable. But most of all: Unstoppable!”

Elizabeth Bridges, PhD, RN, CCNS, FCCM, FAAN, begins a one-year term as president-elect. Bridges 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. In October 2014, she retired with the rank of colonel after 30 years of service in the USAF Nurse Corps.

Current board member Nikki Dotson-Lorello, BSN, RN, CCRN, CPTC, begins a one-year term as secretary. She is RN clinical supervisor at Levine Cancer Institute, Atrium Health, Charlotte, NC.

Amanda Bettencourt, PhD, RN, CCRN-K, ACCNS-P, also a current board member, begins a one-year term as treasurer. She is a postdoctoral research fellow at University of Michigan School of Nursing, Ann Arbor, with a joint appointment in the National Clinician Scholars Program.

Joining the board as directors are Jennifer Adamski, DNP, APRN, ACNP-BC, CCRN; John Gallagher, DNP, RN, CCNS, CCRN-K, TCRN, RRT; and Rose Hata, MS, RN, APRN, CCRN, CCNS. They each serve a three-year term through June 30, 2022.

Adamski is a clinical assistant professor at Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University, Atlanta, where she also serves as director of the Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program. In addition, she is a critical care acute care nurse practitioner for the Critical Care Flight Team at Cleveland Clinic.

Gallagher is a clinical nurse specialist and the trauma program manager at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Philadelphia. He also serves on the editorial board for AACN Advanced Critical Care.

Hata is director of Queen Emma Nursing Institute at The Queen’s Medical Center, Honolulu. In this role, she oversees nursing professional development programs to advance nursing excellence such as nursing research fellowship, evidence-based practice internship and the clinical ladder program.

Returning to the AACN board with Dana Woods, MBA, AACN chief executive officer, are the following directors:

·   Theresa M. Davis, PhD, RN, NE-BC, CHTP, FAAN, clinical operations director of enVision eICU at Inova Health System, Falls Church, VA

·   Anna Dermenchyan, MSN, RN, CCRN-K, senior clinical quality specialist in the Department of Medicine at UCLA Health, Los Angeles

·   Justin DiLibero, DNP, RN, APRN-CNS, CCRN-K, CCNS, ACCNS-AG, an assistant professor in the Graduate Department of Rhode Island College School of Nursing, Providence, and director of the Doctor of Nursing Practice Program. He also serves a concurrent one-year term on the AACN Certification Corporation board.

·   Kiersten Henry, DNP, ACNP-BC, CCNS, CCRN-CMC, chief advanced practice clinician at MedStar Montgomery Medical Center in Olney, MD. She also serves a concurrent one-year term on the AACN Certification Corporation board.

·   Deborah Jones, PhD, RN, senior vice president and dean of University of Texas Medical Branch School of Nursing, and the Rebecca Sealy Distinguished Centennial Chair

·   Beth Wathen, MSN, APRN, CCRN, clinical practice specialist in the pediatric intensive care unit at Children’s Hospital Colorado, Aurora