PLENARY SPEAKERS

Opening Plenary Session

Thursday, 17 July 2025 | 12:30-2:00 p.m. (1230-1400)

Session sponsored by

Florida State University College of Nursing

Maximizing Impact: Dual Strategies for Nursing Career Advancement and Knowledge Translation

Getting published is just the beginning. To truly make a difference, research needs to change lives, shape practice, and influence policy. This energizing session dives into what it really takes to stand out, get your work noticed, and turn evidence into action. Expect practical tips, insider insights, and fresh inspiration to help you grow your impact—and your career.

Bernadette Mazurek Melnyk, PhD, APRN-CNP, EBP-C, FAANP, FNAP, FAAN

Bernadette Mazurek Melnyk
PhD, APRN-CNP, EBP-C, FAANP, FNAP, FAAN

Editor in chief of Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing

Dr. Bernadette Melnyk is an inspirational speaker, author, leader, innovator, entrepreneur and recognized expert in evidence-based practice, mental health, population health and well-being, intervention research, and organizational culture change. She is also CEO and founder of COPE2Thrive LLC and president and co-founder of EBPSolutions LLC.

For 13 years, she served as vice president for health promotion and chief wellness officer at The Ohio State University—the first such position at a U.S. institution of higher learning, which she conceptualized. She also was the Helene Fuld Health Trust Professor of Evidence-Based Practice in the College of Nursing and professor of pediatrics and psychiatry in the College of Medicine. In addition, she founded the Helene Fuld Health Trust National Institute for Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing and Healthcare.

Dr. Melnyk is a frequent keynote speaker at national and international conferences and has presented hundreds of motivational workshops on EBP, mental health, organizational culture change, intervention research, leadership, and wellness. She is editor of 10 books focused on EBP, child and adolescent mental health, intervention research, evidence-based health assessment, leadership, innovation and entrepreneurship, and wellness.

She has authored more than 600 publications and secured over $36 million in sponsored funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and private foundations as a principal investigator.

Dr. Melnyk is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, which has recognized her three times as an Edge Runner. She is also a fellow of the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academies of Practice, and the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. She served a four-year term on the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the National Advisory Council for the National Institute for Nursing Research, and the Behavioral Health Standing Committee of the National Quality Forum.

She also served as dean of the College of Nursing at both The Ohio State University and Arizona State University, leading both to top rankings in U.S. News & World Report and National Institutes of Health research funding.

Dr. Melnyk currently serves as an elected board member and chair of the National Forum for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention. She has received honorary doctoral degrees from the State University of New York and Frontier Nursing University.

Her evidence-based COPE cognitive-behavioral skills-building programs for depression and anxiety are being used in primary care practices in all 50 states with reimbursement, as well as in K–12 schools and universities across the country and in five other countries.

She is editor-in-chief of Sigma’s top-ranked journal Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing. She was appointed to the National Academy of Medicine’s Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-being and Resilience in 2017, on which she still serves. She is also on the advisory board for the American Nurses Association’s Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation initiative and is the founder and immediate past president of the National Consortium for Building Healthy Academic Communities.

Dr. Melnyk received her Bachelor of Science in nursing from West Virginia University, her Master of Science in nursing and pediatric nurse practitioner education from the University of Pittsburgh, and her Ph.D. in clinical research and psychiatric nurse practitioner education from the University of Rochester.

Susan Gennaro, PhD, RN, FAAN

Susan Gennaro
PhD, RN, FAAN

Editor of Journal of Nursing Scholarship

Dr. Susan Gennaro is a professor at the Connell School of Nursing, and was the school's Dean from 2008–2021. Dr. Gennaro was previously the Florence and William Downs Professor of Nursing Research at the College of Nursing, New York University, and also served on the faculty of the schools of nursing at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Alabama in Birmingham, and Medical University of South Carolina. She is an internationally known perinatal nurse researcher who has helped to change perinatal nursing practice based on her work on the antecedents and consequences of stress in families with preterm infants. This work has been funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research, the Office of Women’s Health Research, and Sigma Theta Tau International.

Dr. Gennaro has conducted research in Malawi, Uganda, and the United States. She served as a grant reviewer for Sigma Theta Tau International and the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), as a member of the permanent study section in nursing at NIH, and on the National Advisory Council for NINR from 2012–2016.


Closing Plenary Session

Sunday, 20 July 2025 |11:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m. (1145-1245)

From Insight to Impact: Taking Action to Build a Healthier, More Equitable World

Drawing on their two-time award-winning book, Taking Action: Top 10 Priorities to Promote Health Equity and Well-Being in Nursing, these Sigma authors will inspire attendees to move from knowledge to action through powerful stories, proven strategies, and a shared vision for lasting, systemic change.

Susan B. Hassmiller, PhD, RN, FAAN

Susan B. Hassmiller
PhD, RN, FAAN

Founder and Principal, Sulu Coaching and Consulting

Dr. Susan Hassmiller is a national leader in nursing, health equity, and leadership development. She has devoted her career to strengthening the nursing profession, improving population health, and advancing health equity. During her 25 years at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), she served as the Senior Adviser for Nursing and the Senior Scholar-In-Residence/Senior Adviser to the President at the National Academy of Medicine (NAM).

She helped to lead the landmark reports at NAM on the Future of Nursing ─ the 2010 Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health and The Future of Nursing, 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity. She also established and served as the director of the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, a nationwide initiative led by AARP, the AARP Foundation, and RWJF, to transform health and healthcare through nursing to build a healthier America.

In 2023, she served as the lead editor for two important books focused on helping nurses to achieve health equity: Taking Action: Top 10 Priorities to Promote Health Equity and Well-Being in Nursing; and The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Global Applications to Advance Health Equity.

Hassmiller has held leadership positions in some of the nation’s most prominent health care organizations. She served on the Board of Governors of the American Red Cross, is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, and is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, where she holds the Living Legend status.

She has served or is currently serving on other advisory committees and boards, including the Hackensack Meridian Health System, United HealthCare, Carrier Clinic, Healing Politics, the Nurses on Boards Coalition, and the University of North Carolina School of Nursing. She is currently a Professor of Nursing at the Florida State University College of Nursing and adjunct faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

She has received many awards and four honorary doctorates, including the Florence Nightingale Medal, the highest international honor given to a nurse by the International Committee of the Red Cross, and most recently, the 2025 Nell J. Watts Lifetime Achievement in Nursing Award from Sigma Theta Tau International.

Hassmiller is a Hudson/ICF certified Executive/Leadership Coach and also certified in team coaching. She is founder and Principal of Sulu Coaching and Consulting (www.sulucoaching.com) with a practice focused on health care leaders. She lives in Cary, North Carolina, with her husband and co-founder of Sulu Coaching, and close to her extraordinary grandchildren.

Gaea Daniel, PhD, RN

Gaea Daniel
PhD, RN

Assistant Professor at Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory University

Gaea Daniel is Assistant Professor at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory University, in Atlanta, Georgia, where her funded program of research focuses on understanding the sociocultural and environmental influences that affect sexual health behaviors and outcomes. She is particularly interested in sexual health outcomes of Black women that present as race-based disparities, including sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS.

Dr. Daniel devotes her time to diversity and equity-related initiatives in her research and the nursing profession. She is passionate about working with and in the community to serve others and was nominated for a Barbara Vick Impact Award for her work in HIV. She partners with the community-based organization SisterLove, Inc. on the Healthy Love Bus, a mobile sexual health clinic, where she serves as clinical director.

Dr. Daniel is a proud member of the National Black Nurses Association and a past recipient of the President’s Trailblazer Award for the community-based and research efforts she has led. She is also co-editor of Taking Action: Top 10 Priorities to Promote Health Equity and Well-being in Nursing, which was awarded 1st place Book of the Year in Health Care Administration and History & Public Policy by the American Journal of Nursing.