Key Staff: Practice Ready. Specialty Focused.^™ Nurse Education Model

Dr. Karen Cox will serve as the executive leader of the pilot, providing oversight and direction to the core team.  Dr. Cox was appointed President of Chamberlain University in 2018. She is responsible for managing all undergraduate and graduate programs, which includes over 20 campuses, as well as online programs. Prior to joining Chamberlain, Dr. Cox served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Children’s Mercy – Kansas City, an independent, academic medical center. Dr. Cox led the organization as CNO to receive Magnet designation by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, becoming the first hospital in Missouri, and the region, in 2003 to receive such recognition. Children’s Mercy is one of only 25 organizations in the world to receive Magnet re-designation five times. Dr. Cox is the past president of the American Academy of Nursing and a Fellow in the American College of Health Care Executives. She has a long history of developing innovative workforce models both in service and education.

Dr. Danika Bowen will serve as the Program Director of the pilot, providing oversight and direction to the team and reporting to Dr. Karen Cox.

Dr. Bowen joined Adtalem in 2002 and currently serves as the Senior Director of Institutional Innovation and Strategy for Chamberlain University. In this position, Dr. Bowen is responsible for the creation and implementation of major strategic initiatives for over 20 campuses and online. Previously, Dr. Bowen served as the Provost/Vice President of Academic Affairs of Carrington College for eight years. Throughout her tenure at Carrington College, Dr. Bowen served as the Accreditation Liaison Officer, providing oversight for all programmatic and institutional accreditation visits. Dr. Bowen also has experience in institutional planning, fiscal oversight, educational policies and practices, workforce development, curriculum, and instruction, participatory governance, and faculty development. She has served as a member on a total of seven comprehensive evaluations, and follow-up teams. Dr. Bowen also represented the Accrediting Commission of Community and Junior Colleges for three years as a commissioner, as well as a member of the Board of Directors.

Dr. Bowen holds an Ed.D. in educational leadership and change from Fielding University; an MBA from Keller University; an M.A. in curriculum and instruction from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo; and a B.S. in biochemistry from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.

Robin Faulk will lead the assessment team to develop a comprehensive assessment and coaching program for students designed to inform first (post-graduation) RN position. Robin Faulk has worked in the areas of Human Resources and Organization Development for over 30 years. Her focus has been working with organizations to identify best practice behaviors and linking performance and individual strengths to organization goals. She has done extensive work in the areas of cultural integration, talent and skill assessment and organization and team design. She has led Human Resource initiatives for various global organizations and has over 20 years of leadership experience working in healthcare organizations.

Robin holds a B.A. in Psychology, an M.A. in International Studies, with an emphasis in East Asian Cultures and a second M.A. in Human Resource Development.

Linda Groah and her team will partner on the pilot, providing support for the AORN IPN course and other resources as needed to ensure the success of the pilot. Linda Groah has been the CEO/executive director of AORN since March 2007. A veteran perioperative nursing executive, Linda has devoted her career to perioperative nursing practice, education, and executive management. Her previous professional positions include international healthcare consultation, chief operating officer of Kaiser Foundation Hospital in San Francisco, CA, nurse executive for Kaiser Foundation Hospital-San Francisco and Kaiser Foundation Hospital-South San Francisco, CA; director of nursing OR-PACU-Surgery Center at the University of California San Francisco Hospitals and Clinics; and OR director at the Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon, GA. Under her leadership, AORN has developed partnerships with multiple schools of nursing in pursuit of ensuring adequate practice-ready perioperative nurses.

As part of the pilot, Mary Ellen Hatch and her team at Encompass Health Corporation will collaborate with the Nursing Director on the development of the Home Health course in Year 3 of the pilot. Encompass Health has 140 rehab hospitals, 250 home health sites and 94 hospice locations in 42 states and Puerto Rico. Mary Ellen has been involved in rehabilitation nursing and quality practice for 25 years serving in various nursing and quality management roles, regionally and corporately. She holds a Master of Science Degree in Nursing Leadership and Administration from Walden University. Mary Ellen chairs the Nursing Leadership Board and the Infection Control Task Force. Her responsibilities include the oversight of clinical education, oversight of clinical nursing practice, and representation of nursing on multiple committees within the company.

Cheri Hunt will work with the Chamberlain staff and the assessment team to develop and implement an assessment program to inform the student’s first (post-graduation) RN position. She will also work with the Chamberlain staff to support and build working relationships with CNOs and other staff involved with the pilot project.

Cheri worked exclusively in pediatric healthcare for her 45+ years in nursing. She was employed in a variety of positions at Children’s Mercy - Kansas City and assumed the Chief Nursing Officer position in 2004. She retired in 2020 as the Senior Vice President for Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer holding the Bernell Hevner O’Donnell Endowed Chair – Chief Nursing Officer. Cheri led the organization as CNO to four ANCC Magnet Re-Designations and ANCC Accreditation for the Practice Transition Program for RN Residencies. Children’s Mercy – Kansas City was awarded the coveted Magnet Prize in 2016 and two nurses were selected as Magnet Nurse of the Year. Specific areas of interest included establishing innovative leadership development initiatives; relevant professional recognition programs; creative recruitment and retention strategies; and effective fiscal management systems.

Cheri received a BSN degree from the University of New Mexico and an MHA degree from the University of Kansas.

Dr. Peggy Norton-Rosko will represent Loyola Medicine on the preceptor advisory council. She will provide resources necessary to secure appropriate preceptor relationships for students in the pilot and has estimated an availability of up to 135 placement opportunities per year. Peggy Norton-Rosko is regional chief nursing officer at Loyola Medicine. Previously, she served as chief nurse at both George Washington University Hospital and Centegra Health System. She developed expertise in clinical program expansion and outcome improvement during her tenure as director of critical care, cardiovascular services, emergency and trauma services at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital. Ms. Norton-Rosko earned her Bachelor of Science Degree from Northern Illinois University and her Master of Science Degree from Loyola University Chicago. She also earned a Doctor of Nursing Practice in nursing leadership and health system administration from Chamberlain College of Nursing.

Tracey Moffat will represent Ochsner Health on the preceptor advisory council. She will provide resources necessary to secure appropriate preceptor relationships for students in the pilot and has estimated an availability of up to 135 placement opportunities per year.

Tracey Moffatt is the System Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) and Vice President for Quality at Ochsner Health (OH) headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ochsner is southeast Louisiana’s largest non-profit, academic, multispecialty healthcare delivery system, which owns, manages or is affiliated with 40+ hospitals and more than 150+ health centers and urgent care centers. Tracey joined the Ochsner executive leadership team in 2015. She has more than 30 years of progressive healthcare leadership experience in nursing, operations and quality. Most recently, she has served as the System Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Wellmont Health System in Tennessee. Other prior roles include 19 years of experience with Sisters of Mercy Health System in St. Louis where she was Executive Vice President for Clinical Performance and Chief Nurse Executive.

Tracey holds a Master’s Degree in Healthcare Administration from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Louisiana State University Medical Center. Tracey has several manuscripts and publications in the areas of disease management and telemedicine. Tracey was named an Outstanding Alumni by Louisiana State University School of Nursing in 2018. She was selected as a 2015 Great 100 Nurses of Louisiana. In 2017, she was recognized as one of New Orleans City Business Healthcare Heroes. In January 2018, Tracey was appointed by Governor John Bel Edwards to the Louisiana State Board of Nursing. In 2019, Tracey was also recognized as one of New Orleans City Business Women of the Year. She has developed many workforce initiatives in partnership with local schools of nursing. In her role on the Louisiana state board of nursing, she is a highly regarded voice and demonstrates a bias for action.

Dr. David Reinhart has been the Specialty Director of Perioperative Services at Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital for the past 9 years. He recently accepted a new position as Director of Education for Procedural Residency Programs. He earned his Doctorate of Nursing Practice from Georgia College and State University, Milledgeville, Georgia, Master in Nursing from University of St. Francis, Joliet, Illinois and his Master of Business Administration from University of Dallas, Dallas, Texas.

Reinhart has been a perioperative nurse for 35 years and a life member of AORN. His experience progression started with his role as a nurses’ aide, surgical tech, staff nurse, Supervisor of nursing, Manager of nursing, Director of nursing and then finally his present position of Director of Education for Procedural Residency Programs. Reinhart is a member of AORN Northwest Georgia Chapter 1107. He is a member of ANA, GNA, and Sigma Theta Tau. He is currently serving on the national AORN Nominating Committee and participates in the AORN Executive Roundtable meetings.

Reinhart was the AORN Outstanding Achievement in Perioperative Nursing Management award in 2019. He was a member of the AORN Bylaws Committee 2017/2018, member of the AORN Recruitment and Retention Committee 2019/2020 and elected as a member of the National AORN Nominating Committee 2020/2022.

Christine Scott will facilitate the course design and delivery, creating and documenting processes into a shareable playbook, and is helping to design and implement the StrengthsFinder assessment and coaching strategy.

Christine joined Adtalem in July 2015 and has supported a multitude of experience design, curriculum, course development and educational technology initiatives throughout the institution. As the former Senior Director of Product Development in the Home Office product delivery function, she led the centralized Course Development teams in the Strategy & Innovation and Global Shared Operations departments. These teams provided course design and development support to the Medical & Healthcare, Financial Services, and Post-Secondary verticals, and managed the enterprise migration to the Canvas LMS. Christine has a deep knowledge of Design Thinking and has managed a variety of user-centric, innovation-focused improvement initiatives for Ross Medical University, Chamberlain University, and the Medical Education Readiness Program (MERP).

Christine holds a Masters of Education in Curriculum & Instruction from Arizona State University, a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Arizona State University, and a Certificate in Design Thinking and Innovation from the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia.

Elaine Vernoia will assist the program director with all facets of communications and grant deliverables.

Elaine has been with Chamberlain University since 2016 and the larger Adtalem organization since 2012. She is an accomplished executive-level administrative professional with over 21 years of experience in office management, strategic planning and coordination, logistics and reporting. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from DePaul University in Chicago and her Master’s in Business Administration degree from Benedictine University in Lisle, IL.