Maureen Bisognano, President Emerita and Senior Fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), previously served as IHI’s President and CEO for five years, after serving as Executive Vice President and COO for 15 years. She is a prominent authority on improving health care systems, whose expertise has been recognized by her elected membership to the National Academy of Medicine (IOM), among other distinctions. Ms. Bisognano advises health care leaders around the world, is a frequent speaker at major health care conferences on quality improvement, and is a tireless advocate for change. She is also an Instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a Research Associate in the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities. Additionally, she chairs the Advisory Board of the Well Being Trust, co-chairs the Massachusetts Coalition for Serious Illness Care with Dr. Atul Gawande, and serves on the boards of the Commonwealth Fund, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Indiana University Health and Nursing Now. Prior to joining IHI, she served as CEO of the Massachusetts Respiratory Hospital and Senior Vice President of The Juran Institute.

Jacqueline Fawcett, RN: PhD; ScD (hon); FAAN; ANEF, received her Bachelor of Science degree from Boston University in 1964, her Master of Arts degree in Parent Child Nursing with a minor in Nursing Education from New York University in 1970, and her Ph.D. in Nursing, also from New York University, in 1976. Dr. Fawcett has been a nurse educator for more than 40 years; currently, she is a Professor in the Department of Nursing, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Boston. Previously, she held faculty positions at the University of Connecticut and the University of Pennsylvania.

For more than 35 years, Dr. Fawcett’s program of research has focused on Roy Adaptation Model-based studies of adaptation to life events. Her earlier program of research, starting with her doctoral dissertation, was based on Rogers’ Science of Unitary Human Beings. Dr. Fawcett and her research team colleagues have received funding from the University of Connecticut Research Foundation, the University of Pennsylvania Research Foundation, NAACOG, the American Cancer Society, the National Center for Nursing Research, and the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Fawcett and colleagues have published reports of their research in numerous journal articles and book chapters.

Dr. Fawcett is perhaps best known for her meta-theoretical work, which focuses on the nature and structure of knowledge in nursing. Dr. Fawcett’s meta-theoretical work is published in many journal articles and book chapters, as well as in several of her books. Her most recent books are Applying Conceptual Models of Nursing: Research, Quality Improvement, and Practice (2017), and co-edited with Sarah Beckman, The Neuman Systems Model: Celebrating Academic-Practice Partnerships (2017).

Karen Daley, PhD, RN, FAAN, served from 2010 to 2014 as the president of the American Nurses Association, the nation’s largest nursing organization representing the interests of the nation’s 3.5 million registered nurses. She is a past president of ANA Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Center for Nursing and has served on the boards of ANA, the American Nurses Credentialing Center, and the ANA-PAC. She is a current member of the Board of Trustees of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, the American Nurses Foundation, The International Safety Center and the Barnstable Land Trust.

A resident of Cotuit, MA, Daley spent more than 25 years in clinical practice at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. She has been honored for her outstanding leadership and excellence in practice, including being recognized as a living nurse legend by the Massachusetts Association of Registered Nurses. In 2006, she was inducted as a Fellow into the American Academy of Nursing in recognition of her advocacy work in needlestick prevention. In 2011, Daley was listed among Modern Healthcare’s “100 Most Influential People in Health Care” and, in 2013, was selected by Modern Healthcare as one of the “Top 25 Women in Healthcare.” In 2015, in recognition of her global public health advocacy and leadership, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by Rivier University in Nashua, New Hampshire and in 2017, received her second honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Curry College in Milton, Massachusetts.

Daley holds a diploma in nursing from Catherine Labouré School of Nursing, a bachelor of science in nursing from Curry College, a master of public health from Boston University School of Public Health, and a master of science and PhD in nursing from Boston College.

Dr. Kelly Brittain is an Associate Professor at the Michigan State University College of Nursing. In her role, she teaches Public Health Nursing and Evidence-Based Practice courses. Her research aims to improve health outcomes by helping individuals make informed decisions about their health. Her colorectal cancer screening adherence interventions use mobile technology and social media to improve colorectal cancer screening awareness among women while addressing cancer health disparities in the community and primary care practices.

A National Institutes of Health funded researcher, Brittain has experience conducting research as part of a national multi-disciplinary team. She has over two decades of public and community health experience in health promotion/risk reduction serving youth to older adults.

She has published and presented in the areas of informed decision as it relates to adherence, colorectal cancer screening, mHealth interventions, web-based psychoeducational intervention, social support, and sociocultural differences.

Kate Lorig, DrPH, received her undergraduate degree in nursing from Boston University and her Doctoral degree in Public Health from the University of California Berkeley. She is Emerita Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine. She developed, evaluated and translated into practice a series of community based, peer led, self-management programs for older people. These programs, including the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program, the Diabetes Self-Management Program, The Chronic Pain Self-Management Program, Cancer Thriving and Surviving and Building Better Caregivers, are now use across the United States and in 25 or more other countries. She is a fellow in the Society for Public Health Education and the Society for Behavioral Medicine. She is currently a partner in the Self-Management Resource Center, a startup dedicated to furthering the use of evidence based community education programs.

Deb Washington has been Director of Diversity for Patient Care Services at Massachusetts General Hospital since 1995. However, she’s been a nurse at the hospital since 1986. A graduate of Boston University School of Nursing and a 1993 graduate of Boston College School of Nursing with a Masters in Adult Mental Health, Deb was featured as an AONE Leader to Watch in that organization’s February, 2005 publication. She was a fellow in the inaugural class of the HRET Cultural Competence Leadership Fellowship where her project focus was the effect on nursing practice of a curriculum on culturally competent care. In May of 2007, Deb was honored as the national finalist in the Nursing Spectrum Excellence Award in the category of Advancing and Leading the Profession. She has twice been recognized by the Boston Ad council with a Rosoff Award and is the first recipient of the inaugural Rosoff Agent of Change award. Deb has also received recognition with the Boston Business Journal’s Healthcare Leader Award. She is a 2010 graduate of the Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellowship where her project is focused on Coalitions as Social Capital in Minority Communities. Deb’s present work involves assessing medical errors and their impact on communities of color through her work as a board member of MITSS (Medically Induced Trauma Support Services). Deb uses her background in psychiatric nursing to understand and teach about diversity and cultural competence. She is the 2008 Adele Herwitz Scholar from the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools International (CGFNS). Deb serves on the diversity advisory boards of Simmons College, Emmanuel College, Boston College Schools of Nursing and Roxbury Community College. She is a diversity seminar instructor for the AONE Nurse Manager Fellowship and presents on topics such as teamwork, managing a multicultural workforce, conflict resolution, cross-cultural communication, cultural competence and mentoring of minority professionals. Deb is adjunct faculty at Emmanuel College where she teaches a mandatory course on diversity. Deb has co-authored book chapters and articles on diversity in nursing, as well as papers on mentoring minority professionals and managing a diverse workforce published in the journal Nursing Administration Quarterly. Deb has produced two videos exploring the professional experiences of the Black nurse and the cultural positives of living in a minority community. She served several years as a YWCA facilitator for their Community Dialogues Program which promotes antiracism seminars within local communities, a board member of the AONE Foundation where she served as Co-Chair of the Research Committee and a member of the Executive Council of AARP Massachusetts. Deb is currently national Co-Chair for the Future of Nursing State Action Coalition Diversity Steering Committee, Co-Chair of the National Black Nurses Diversity Committee and a past board member of New England Regional Black Nurses, Inc. In 2015 Deb received the Prism Award from the American Organization of Nurse Executives in recognition of her national standing related to her work in diversity. In 2017 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Black Nurses Association. In 2018 Deb was named by Partners HealthCare one of the 100 Most influential People of Color in Boston. She is the current Church Moderator of Old South Church in Boston where Benjamin Franklin was baptized and in 1771 Phillis Wheatley, America’s first published black poetess was a member. Deb is the first Black church moderator to serve in this almost 350 year old church which has a long standing commitment to diversity and antiracism work. In 2012 Deb received her PhD from Boston College where her dissertation and research interest is the impact of ethnic bias on clinical decision-making.

Maureen Bisognano, President Emerita and Senior Fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), previously served as IHI’s President and CEO for five years, after serving as Executive Vice President and COO for 15 years. She is a prominent authority on improving health care systems, whose expertise has been recognized by her elected membership to the National Academy of Medicine (IOM), among other distinctions. Ms. Bisognano advises health care leaders around the world, is a frequent speaker at major health care conferences on quality improvement, and is a tireless advocate for change. She is also an Instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a Research Associate in the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities. Additionally, she chairs the Advisory Board of the Well Being Trust, co-chairs the Massachusetts Coalition for Serious Illness Care with Dr. Atul Gawande, and serves on the boards of the Commonwealth Fund, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Indiana University Health and Nursing Now. Prior to joining IHI, she served as CEO of the Massachusetts Respiratory Hospital and Senior Vice President of The Juran Institute.