PLENARY SPEAKERS

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 US 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.

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.

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.

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 by the American Journal of Nursing in the Health Care Administration and History & Public Policy categories..