Dawn Barber serves as a Clinical Development Specialist and Educator for Medical Simulation Corporation. She has 16 years of clinical nursing experience focusing on critical care and cardiovascular nursing. She joined MSC in 2003. Dawn has worked closely with physician and nurse leaders on the development of Web-based and Simulation-based Education Programs. Dawn has also supported MSC’s endovascular simulation education program across the US and Canada. 

Linda Batson is a Clinical Educator with the Center for Education and Development at University of Missouri Health Care in Columbia, Missouri. The native Missourian has worked at MU Health Care for over 29 years and most recently has been involved in simulation and e-learning for the past 5 years. Her ICU background in the care of burn and trauma patients helped prepare her to educate others.In 2007 she was appointed the American Heart Association Training Center Coordinator for the training center based at MU Health Care.

Deborah Ellison has been working a Austin Peay State University for 3 years. During the time at Austin Peay State University she has developed and implemented the APSUlute Virtual Hospital. Her background is in critical care and a masters degree in nursing education with a concentration in critical care. Presentaion made on state and international levels.

Bonita Gordon is currently an assistant professor at The Christ College of Nursing and Health Sciences in Cincinnati. She has been instrumental in developing the simulation program at the Christ College. She also assisted in developing The Tristate Nursing Skills Lab (and Simulation) Consortium, which has created an avenue for area skills and simulation users to network and collaborate.
Prior to being assistant professor of the skills lab and simulation, she served as a clinical instructor for several years and has experience as a telemetry nurse. She also has served as a pastor’s wife in inner Cincinnati, Ohio from 2000-2005. Additionally, she served as a missionary in Swaziland, Africa from 1989-1993 teaching nursing and assisting with church planting.

Beth is a native of Nashville, Tennessee. Beth graduated from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama with her Associates Degree in December of 1986. She returned home to work at Baptist Hospital on a pediatric floor and continue her education. In 1989 she graduated with her BSN from Belmont College. Subsequent to her graduation she went to work at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital on a pediatric surgical floor. She returned to school in 1992 to pursue her Master’s in Child and Family Nursing at Vanderbilt. Working weekends in Children’s Hospital she completed her course work in December of 1994.

Tiffany Holmes has been working in simulation for over 4 years. While at the University of Texas at Arlington, she has held the following roles with in the Smart Hospital™: Simulation Technician, Manager of the Smart Hospital and Director of the Smart Hospital. As a Doctor of  Chiropractic, she brings to the roles not only knowledge of medicine but also the office administrator skills to direct the daily operations of the 13,000 square foot simulated hospital, the Smart Hospital.

Laurie Jenson has ten years of clinical nursing experience primarily in various critical care specialties and in the emergency room. She currently a Clinical Program Manager with Medical Simulation Corporation. While working in the critical care unit, Ms. Jenson lectured for the critical care and special care programs at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. Laurie received her bachelor’s degree in nursing at Middle Tennessee State University in 1997 and worked for St. Thomas Hospital and Vanderbilt before becoming a traveling nurse. She received her Masters in Business Administration from Colorado State University in 2006.

Professor Lamontagne has taught in the nursing program at Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) since 1988. Prior to that she taught at Our Lady of the Elms College in Chicopee, MA. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Connecticut in 1987 with a Master of Science Degree in Nursing. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from American International College and her Associate Degree in Nursing from Springfield Technical Community College. She is currently in the dissertation phase of her PhD in nursing at the University of Massachusetts. In 2007, she was named to the NLN/Laerdal International Simulation Faculty Development Grant. As part of this grant, Professor Lamontagne developed an online module for programming simulators that is part of the NLN/SIRC website.

Mary Lee Lemley has been using simulation to educate medical professionals for 4 years. While at the Monroe Carrell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt she has held various positions in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and currently serves as the Perinatal Regional Outreach Educator. Working with high fidelity simulation, she travels to a number of local and remote locations with the mobile simulation unit. As a Clinical Nurse Specialist she brings to the role not only knowledge of neonatal bedside nursing skills and high risk deliveries but also advanced practice skill sets such as endotracheal intubation and chest tube insertion.

David G. Lindquist is the lead crew resource management (CRM) and teamwork training instructor for the Rhode Island Hospital Medical Simulation Center. He received a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from Amherst College in 1990, his medical degree from the University of Vermont in 1999, and completed his emergency medicine residency at Rhode Island Hospital in 2003. He is a clinical assistant professor of emergency medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and an attending emergency physician at The Miriam Hospital and Rhode Island Hospital.

Mike has more than 25 years of EMS and emergency nursing experience, both as a clinician and educator.  He has also worked for 15 years as a family nurse practitioner in primary care, GI, and emergency medicine.  He now divides his time between educational roles, working in professional staff development as a simulation coordinator, as faculty in the acute care NP program at the MGH Institute of Heath Professions, and providing patient care in a GI practice. Mike has held national faculty positions for the American Heart Association and is active as an ACLS instructor. Currently he is completing a Doctorate of Nursing Practice in Educational Leadership from Case Western Reserve University, and is involved in research with simulation, team training and education development. Mike has spoken regionally, nationally and internationally on a variety of topics including simulation, team training initiatives, and incorporating multimedia in education.

Maria Overstreet recently completed a PhD in Nursing at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her selected studies focused on nursing education methodologies including adult education and the use of nursing clinical simulation and debriefing exercises. Dr. Overstreet’s research focused on the current practice of nursing clinical simulation debriefing. Overstreet’s research findings led to the identification of three new patterns among educators and students alike: accentuate the positive, higher order thinking, and experience counts.

Amar Patel is the Manager of the Center for Innovative Learning at WakeMed Health & Hospitals. Mr. Patel is responsible for integrating technology based educational programs to include human patient simulation, healthcare gaming, hybrid education, and intellectual property development into regional programs.  As a member of the Center for Patient Safety, Amar strives daily to make changes to processes in healthcare that will directly improve patient and provider safety.

Melissa has 25 years nursing experience, primarily in critical care.  She has also worked for over 10 years as a family nurse practitioner in primary care and internal medicine. She divides her time between educational roles and working in professional staff development. Currently she is completing a Doctorate of Nursing Practice in Educational Leadership from Case Western Reserve University, and is involved in research with simulation, team training and education development.

Dr. Schaefer currently holds the position of the Lewis Blackman Endowed Chair with Health Sciences South Carolina. Dr. Schaefer’s endowed chair is one of 24 state-approved and funded Centers of Economic Excellence, and is in patient simulation education and research. Dr. Schaefer is working to establish a statewide network of patient simulator training and research labs and directing associated research activities. Ultimately there will be seven simulation centers for the state over the next two years planned for Beaufort, Charleston, Clemson, Columbia and Spartanburg. Greenville Hospital System opened in March, 2007. The centers will be networked and will use the same systems to train medical, nursing and allied health students each year.

Carie is a nurse with a background in Long Term Care, Med-Surg, and Administration. She found her passion for Nursing when she began teaching for both LPN, and RN students. Her work in simulation began 4 years ago when she and a co-worker created the Nursing Learning Resource Center at Westmoreland County Community College. This Department coordinates all nursing lab activities including student tutoring, weekly set-up and tear-down of equipment, and simulation development and incorporation. Since starting this endeavor, we have incorporated over 30 different human patient simulations into the curriculum and ran over 200 Simulation exercises during this past Spring semester.

Monica Nelson Tennant is a Geriatric Clinical Nurse Specialist at Piedmont Fayette,Piedmont Mountainside, and Piedmont Newnan Hospital. She is employed through a three year Comprehensive Geriatric Education Program grant by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration to increase knowledge of geriatric care. She was awarded the Kensington Travel Award in Geriatrics this year by the American Federation for Aging Research (Southeastern affiliate at Emory University-Center for Health and Aging).

Marjorie Lee White has been working in simulation for over 4 years. She is currently the Assistant Medical Director of the Pediatric Simulation Center at Children’s Hospital of Alabama and practices pediatric emergency medicine in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She received advanced simulation training at the Center for Medical Simulation, Boston, MA.

Professor Woshinsky teaches fundamentals and Medical-Surgical nursing at the freshman level. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Connecticut in 1978, and her Masters of Science in Nursing degree from the University of Hartford in 2000. She obtained certification as a nurse educator (CNE) in 2008. Professor Woshinsky is a member of Sigma Theta Tau, Mu chapter, MARILN, and the NLN. Professor Woshinsky has been actively involved in the use of simulation in the curriculum of the STCC School of Nursing since 2005, and has provided simulation training at annual conferences held at STCC by the SIMS Medical Academy. She co-authored the publication “What do we do now that we have SimMan out of the box? Using a template to develop simulation scenarios.”

Jason Zigmont is the Manager and Educator for the SYN:APSE Simulation Center of the Yale New Haven Health System.  He is a Nationally Registered Paramedic and a PhD Candidate in Adult Learning at the University of Connecticut. His research interests focus on the relationship of experiential learning, analogical reasoning and mental models in regards to changing daily practice.