Speakers

Kathy Bowles PhD, RN, FAAN, FACMI is a professor and the Director of the Center for Integrative Science in Aging at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Nursing. Dr. Bowles’ research has focused on the use of information technology and health informatics to improve healthcare for at-risk older adults. In 2011, Dr. Bowles Co-founded RightCare Solutions, a software company based on her team’s research that provides an end to end solution for discharge planning and post-acute care referrals. In 2017, Dr. Bowles was inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Research Hall of Fame for her contribution to research and nursing.

Ernesto Holguin, BSN, RN, CNN is the CEO and Founder of OTEN Medical, a company dedicated to improving the quality of life of diabetic patients. Before founding OTEN Medical, Holguin worked as a dialysis nurse at Las Palmas Medical Center which motivated him to design, build, and patent the first ever diabetic food care monitoring system. In 2017, Holguin won the InfoSys Foundation Maker Award for his inventive work and also was accepted into the Medical Centers of American Innovation Center program for startups, which helped Holguin launch OTEN Medical.

Kwamane Liddell, JD, MHA, BSN is a health equity visionary, business leader, and former emergency department nurse who believes diagnosis-based foods should be as accessible as medicine. He is Founder and CEO of Thrive Link (formerly Nutrible), an app that allows doctors to deliver meals that align with the medical and cultural needs of patients. He received the 2024 American Nurses Association National Innovation Award, and is a 2023 American Swiss Foundation Fellow and 2022 Aspen Institute Fellow. 

Ebony Marcelle, DNP, CNM, FACNM is the Director of Midwifery at Community of Hope, including the Family Health and Birth Center. She is known for her passion in midwifery and midwifery’s role in reproductive justice. She has built culturally aware clinical models of care specifically for under resourced Black women. 

Christina Marea, PhD, MA, MSN, FACNM is an assistant professor in the Midwifery/Women’s Health Nursing Practitioner Program at Georgetown University. She is a Certified Nurse Midwife at Community of Hope, and leads research exploring the intersection of reproductive justice, health disparities, and health system opportunities to transform care and outcomes for structurally marginalized and excluded people.

Sarah Szanton, PHD, ANP, FAAN is an Endowed Professor for Health Equity and Social Justice at Johns Hopkins and the Director of The Center for Innovative Care in Aging. Dr. Szanton’s research focuses on changing policy for older adults and their families. She is the founder of CAPABLE, which aims to improve mobility and reduce disability for older adults. She has tested the program’s effectiveness through grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Innovations Office at the Center on Medicaid and Medicare Services.

Rae Walker, PhD, RN, OCN is an Associate Director of the UMass Center for Health and Human Performance: a multidisciplinary translational science center that specializes in developing sensors, wearables, and digital health technology.  She earned her PhD in Nursing, Certificates in Health Disparities research and Nursing Education, and completed her Postdoctoral Fellowship in innovation for aging and translational science at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Regina Cunningham, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, is the Chief Executive Officer of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) and an Adjunct Professor and Assistant Dean for Clinical Practice at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Nursing. She is an accomplished nurse executive, scientist, and educator who has made significant contributions to advancing nursing practice and clinical care. She has extensive experience in the organization and delivery of nursing service across the care continuum, with particular expertise in the utilization of nursing resources in care delivery systems. 

Caroline Hill, M.Ed is the founder of 228 Accelerator and created equityXdesign, a powerful framework that utilizes an equity and innovation-oriented approach to design. With an extensive background in education, mentorship, coaching, and investing, Caroline explores initiatives to optimize the role of relationships, leverage technologies, and engage people as agents in their own transformation. 

Mikey Ilagan, BS is a Digital Accessibility Professional. As an experienced Accessibility SME, Mikey is passionate about the way people use technology. He has a strong background in product management, testing, collaboration with cross-functional teams, and advocacy for people with disabilities.  

Bon Ku, MD, MPP is the Assistant Dean for Health & Design at Thomas Jefferson University. A practicing emergency medicine physician, he is also the Director of the Health Design Lab and created the first design thinking program at a medical school. His innovative program tackles healthcare inequalities as a form of social justice and teaches future physicians to apply human-centered design to healthcare challenges. 

Erica Lewis, PhD, RN, is an Assistant Professor of Nursing at James Madison University. Dr. Lewis specializes in bioethics and has published on the topic of medical error and other ethics issues, such as disparities in vulnerable populations. She has also taught and researched ethical reasoning in the context of innovation, and helps guide interdisciplinary students in the JMU Xlab to consider potential implications of their innovations.

Molly McCarthy, BSN, MBA, is the National Director, US Provider Industry and Chief Nursing Officer at Microsoft. She is a Business Innovator and Healthcare Executive with over twenty-five years of experience in health and information technology industries. Career progression spans clinical registered nurse, product development, client relationship, strategic marketing and business development management roles.

Angela Patterson, DNP, FNP-BC, NEA-BC, is an advanced practice registered nurse, Vice President at CVS Health, and Chief Nurse Practitioner Officer of CVS MinuteClinic. In her current role, Dr. Patterson is accountable to providing clinical and professional practice governance for more than 3,100 Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants who staff the organization’s more than 1,100 retail health clinics located across 34 states and the District of Columbia.

Seun Ross, DNP, MS, CRNP-F, NP-C is the Executive Director for Health Equity at IBX. Dr. Ross has served in a wide range of leadership positions, including as chief nursing officer and senior vice president of Managed Service Provider Operations at InGenesis Inc, as well as other roles at the American Nurses Association, AL Health Services, MedStar Harbor Hospital, and the United States Naval Academy-Brigade Medical Unit. She also has a clinical background as a licensed registered nurse and nationally certified family nurse practitioner.

Keondra Rustan PhD, RN, CHSE, CNE is a Nurse Educator, Clinical Informaticist, and Simulation Specialist at Eisenhower Medical Center and adjunct Simulation Educator at College of the Desert. She has over thirteen years of nursing experience with a strong clinical background in critical care, cardiac care and emergency medicine. She is constantly searching for new methods to educate and train students as well as staff using technology and innovative methods. Dr. Rustan is a member of Sigma Nursing (STTI) and Vice-Chair of the Healthcare Systems Modeling and Simulation Group for the Society for Simulation in Healthcare.

Raja Schaar, MAAE, BSID, is Associate Program Director and Assistant Professor of Product Design at Drexel University’s Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design. She also co-chairs IDSA’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council. She is an industrial designer with an extensive background in museum exhibit design who is passionate about ways design can make positive impact intersections with health, the environment, and education.

Aliya Aaron is a nurse health-tech innovator and entrepreneur. Aliya is the founder and CEO of Nursing Innovation Hub, a global technology innovation platform whose mission is to support and empower frontline nurses to develop knee driven innovation to help improve patients outcomes through the use of technology. Aliya has extensive experience in the healthcare setting and a variety of health tech roles, which has led her to becoming an internationally recognized expert in healthcare technology software development, as well as innovation technology solutions to improve patient care.

Sangeeta Agarawal is nurse and computer engineer with over 20 years of experience in oncology nursing, system management and integrated medicine, as well as over 10 years as a software engineer with companies such as Google and IBM. Noticing a need to address symptom management and supportive care for oncology patients, and using her rich background in both field, she founded Helpsy a unique symptom management program.

Margo Brooks Carthon PhD, RN, FAAN is an Associate Professor of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania. She was one of the first nurse researchers to demonstrate empirical relationships between the quality of nursing care and racial inequities in outcomes. As a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholar, she is currently studying patient and nurse perspectives of hospital readmission disparities. In addition to her research, Dr. Brooks Carthon maintains an active clinical practice providing home-based geriatric assessments.

Shawna Butler, RN, MBA is the EntrepreNURSE-in-Residence at Radboud University Medical Center (Netherlands) and part of the Exponential Medicine team at Singularity University. She believes in combining clinical acumen, health economics, and technology to catalyze cross-sector collaboration that delivers better health, experiences, and outcomes.

Marion Leary, PhD, MPH, RN, is the Director of Innovation at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Nursing. She is a resuscitation researcher who examines the intersection of technology and education for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training. She works to amplify nurses as leaders in health and healthcare innovation and is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Pennsylvania.

Rebecca Love, RN, MSN, is a thought Leader on Nurse Innovation & Entrepreneurship and is dedicated and passionate about empowering nurses to be at the forefront of healthcare innovation and entrepreneurship. She currently serves as the Managing Director of U.S Markets at Ryalto and recently founded SONSIEL, a Society of Nurse Scientists, Innovators, Entrepreneurs & Leaders.

Patrick McMurray, MSN, RN is a registered nurse with over 11 years of experience, specializing in cardiovascular care. He is a faculty member in the Department of Nursing at North Carolina Central University and is a dedicated proponent of community college nursing education programs.

Raina Merchant, MD, is an associate vice president at Penn Medicine and an associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She has secondary appointments in the Department of Internal Medicine and Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care. She serves as the director of the Penn Medicine Center for Digital Health and co-director of the Penn National Clinician Scholars Program. Her work is at the intersection of digital media and health.

Christine Ortiz ,Ed.L.D., M.Ed, is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for innovation through equity-centered design. She is the Founder at Equity Meets Design​, a think tank that works to increase those with creative authority to (re)design interactions, interventions, and institutions towards increased equity in process and outcomes. 

Marilyn Rantz, PhD, RN, FAAN, is the Curators’ Professor Emerita of Nursing at the University of Missori’s Sinclair School of Nursing. She is internationally recognized for her insights in long term care, new delivery models of care for older adults, and technology development to enhance aging in place for community-dwelling elders.

Joanna Seltzer, RN, MSN is a nurse informaticist and an Adjunct Professor at NYU’s School of Nursing where she teaches a graduate level course on “Designing for Care and Wellness.” She is a founding member of SONSIEL (Society of Nurse Scientists, Innovators, Entrepreneurs & Leaders) and currently pursuing her EdD from the University of Southern California. 

Ibada Wadud, MS is a faculty member of the Parsons School of Design, an award-winning social entrepreneur, and an executive design strategist in sustainability, equity, and impact.  She teaches Design Justice at the Parsons School of Design and developed the Equity-Centered Design curriculum for the Slow Factory’s Open Education Initiative. 

Dr. Dan Weberg is a nurse innovator, author, speaker, and the head of Clinical Innovation at Trusted Health. Dr. Weberg is also an expert in human-centered patient design and simulation, as well as healthcare innovation. He is also the founding faculty member of the Ohio State University Master’s of Healthcare Innovation program, as well as clinical assistant professor at Kaiser Permanente’s School of Medicine, focused on technology, leadership, and inter-professional curriculum.