Linda was previously with Laerdal Medical Corporation in roles of sales and marketing, primarily related to the American Heart Association self-directed learning products. Linda’s experience also includes critical care nursing and management of the Pulmonary and Cardiac Rehab Programs at the MCP/Hahnemann University Hospital System in Philadelphia. Linda holds a BS degree in Business Communications and a degree in Nursing.

• Consulting: Direction to create and operate
  new or expanded simulation training centers.
• Training: Operations and professional instructor guidance.
• Curriculum: Developed by leading experts to address clinician training and patient safety concerns using simulation.
• Simulation Information Management System: Framework which addresses facility management, curricula delivery and data.
  

Mary Cato has been a simulation specialist at OHSU since 2004, and has worked with nursing students as well as other health care professionals utilizing simulation. She has a master’s degree in nursing education and has been teaching in both hospital and academic environments for over fifteen years. Mary has participated in research related to the development of clinical judgment in nursing students, and has written and presented on this topic. She is one of the authors of the NLN/Laerdal Simulation Innovation Resource Center. In addition, she has been active in training simulation specialists through her work with the Oregon Simulation Alliance (OSA).  

Aimee oversees planning, organizing, and coordinating curriculum at the WISER institute at the University of Pittsburgh. Aimee works with content experts to develop courses that are taught at WISER and other simulation centers across the country. She has created a detailed process which helps to streamline curriculum production. The process includes step by step instructions and templates for subject matter experts to easily develop course material. Aimee also helps to develop simulation courses to be sold commercially.

Aimee has presented her curriculum development process at multiple local and internal conferences.

Louis P. Halamek, M.D., is an Associate Professor in the Medical Center Professoriate in the Division of Neonatal and Developmental Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, and the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics (by courtesy) at Stanford University. He is a graduate of the Creighton University School of Medicine, and completed residency and chief residency in Pediatrics at the University of Nebraska Medical Center followed by fellowship in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at Stanford University. He is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics in both Pediatric Medicine and Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine and is a Fellow in the American Academy of Pediatrics. He has a clinical appointment at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford where he works in the level III neonatal intensive care unit.
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Dr. KT Waxman has over 25 years of experience as a nurse leader in California. She currently is the Program Director for the Bay Area Simulation Collaborative (BASC) and the California Simulation Alliance (CSA) for the California Institute for Nursing & Health Care (CINHC). She is also president of KT Waxman & Associates, a healthcare consulting firm. Waxman began her career as an RN at UCLA Medical Center in the medical/surgical division. A nationally known speaker, Waxman addresses such topics as leadership development, healthcare finance, networking and communication. Waxman holds an RN degree from Napa Valley College, a bachelor’s degree in Healthcare Administration, an MBA from the University of La Verne, and a doctorate in nursing practice (DNP) from the University of San Francisco with a concentration in health systems leadership, with an emphasis on simulation. She is now a part-time faculty member and teaches masters students in USF’s nursing program.  

Nancy Corbett currently works for Northern California Risk Management as a Clinical Practice Leader for the Perinatal Patient Safety Project (PPSP), Rapid Responses Teams, and HEROES for Safety. She has been involved with PPSP since its inception when she was the Perinatal Nurse Manager at Kaiser Medical Center, Hayward. Corbett works extensively with Dr. Paul Preston presenting Human Factors Workshops and Critical Event Team Training both in the Perinatal and Medical -Surgical units. She was also a recipient of the David Lawrence Patient Safety Award in 2004 and 2006. Corbett has a BS in Therapeutic Recreation from San Jose State University and a BS in Nursing from California State University, Hayward. She recently completed a Masters in Healthcare Administration. She is an IHI Improvement Advisor Fellow and belongs to the professional organization of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare.  

Julie Arafeh received her Bachelors Degree in Nursing from the University of Evansville in Evansville, IN. and her Masters Degree in Perinatal Nursing from Indiana University. Julie has worked in several academic and community hospitals in the area of obstetrical nursing including critical care obstetrics. She is a national speaker and has publications in the areas of sepsis, invasive hemodynamic monitoring, cardiac disease during pregnancy and family centered care. Since being employed by the Division of Neonatal and Developmental Medicine at Stanford, Julie has been an Educator for Mid-Coastal California Perinatal Outreach Program and is currently an Obstetric Simulation Specialist at the Center for Advanced Pediatric and Perinatal Education (CAPE). A part of her role at CAPE, Julie is a member of the multidisciplinary OBSim Team at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital responsible for planning and implementing service wide drills and simulation experiences for obstetrical staff.  

Until recently, Dr. Saffier was Vice President and Medical Director at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Stockton California. He has practiced as a Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon for twenty two years. He is a graduate of the Medical College of Pennsylvania. He has been very involved in the advancement of Patient Safety both at St. Josephs and throughout the Catholic Healthcare West system. His interests in this field include Medical Simulation, Disclosure of Unanticipated Outcomes and Human Factors Engineering. He has taught MedTeams (Crew Resource Management) for the past 5 years. Dr. Saffier has also served as a surveyor for Consolidated Accreditation and Licensure Survey Program, Institute for Medical Quality for the past ten years. In this capacity, he received IMQ’s highest award, The Donald E. Widmann, MD Award for Excellence.  

Dianne Ditmer is a certified forensic nurse and clinical educator at Kettering Medical Center in Dayton, Ohio, with a background in emergency nursing, risk management, and medical investigation. Dr. Ditmer is committed to improving the quality of care provided to vulnerable populations and victims of violence through education of multi-disciplinary professionals. Dr. Ditmer was appointed to the Governor’s Taskforce on Child Abuse and Childhood Trauma. She collaborates with educators, law enforcement, and legislative members to develop evidence-based educational programs for school systems, healthcare providers, and foster families. In addition to her role as an educator, Dianne provides direct care for living victims of abuse, neglect, and sexual assault. As a credentialed Fellow of the American College of Forensic Examiners International (ACFEI) and Diplomat of the American Board of Forensic Nursing (DABFN), she serves as chairman of the American Board of Forensic Nurses and board member of the Ohio Healthcare Taskforce on Family Violence.
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Suzan (Suzie) Kardong-Edgren PhD, RN is an assistant professor of nursing at Washington State University in Spokane, Washington. She is the Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Simulation in Nursing, the online journal of the International Nursing Association of Clinical Simulation and Learning (INACSL). Suzan serves as the project director for a national multi-arm multi-site study for Laerdal Medical Corporation and the American Heart Association, investigating better ways to learn and retain CPR and ACLS skills. Dr. Edgren serves as a consultant for the National Council of State Boards of Nursing on a national multi-site study to evaluate the use of simulation in clinical learning. She served as one of nine simulation experts for the second joint Laerdal Medical Corporation/National League for Nursing project, the development of the Simulation Innovation Resource Center, a full service website of simulation resources and courses for nursing simulation. She is a member of the Society of Simulation in Healthcare (SIH) and INACSL.  

Involving her students in active learning experiences has been the driving force in Debra Brady’s commitment to developing the Simulation Learning Center at Sacramento State and integrating simulation learning into multiple areas of the nursing program. Simulation learning has been so effective for nursing students she explored ways to provide other students with this experience and invited Physical Therapy faculty and students to participate in the simulation lab. The result as been an exciting collaborative simulation learning experience where Nursing and Physical therapy students work together, like they would in a real work environment, to manage patients with clinical emergencies they will encounter in the hospital setting.
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Jeff Convissar is the Director, National Risk Management for Kaiser Permanente. He has been with the organization since September 1992. Jeff was previously the Director of Risk Management/Patient Safety at the Kaiser Permanente Fremont Medical Center in Northern California. Prior to that, for 12 years he was an attending physician in the Emergency Department at the Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Medical Center in Northern California. At Santa Clara, Jeff also served as the Assistant Chief of Quality. Jeff has a BA in Biology from Brown University, his MD is from the UCLA School of Medicine and ED residency training was completed at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. Jeff is responsible for a variety of Risk Management and Patient Safety initiatives at Kaiser Permanente.  

Ms. Feaster is currently the Program Director for the Center for Immersive and Simulation-based Learning (CISL - pronounced sizzle) at Stanford University in California. She is responsible for facilitating collaboration and coordination between all simulation activities at Stanford University. In addition, she is the administrative director for the Goodman Simulation Center, housed in middle of Stanford Hospital. The Goodman Center’s focus is on surgical task and team training. Because of its central location to both the adult and pediatric hospital, many groups (LifeFlight, Cardiac Cath Lab, etc) run their simulations in the Goodman Center. Ms. Feaster facilitated the opening of the Goodman Center in June of ’07.
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