One of the key benefits of NurseTRUST is participation in our virtual conversations, which we call TRUSTed Conversations. They offer a great opportunity to expand knowledge while connecting with a network of accomplished nurse leaders in every sector of nursing practice! TRUSTed Conversations are open to members and non-members unless otherwise noted.
Held monthly on the 4th Thursday from 4:00-5:30pm ET
Description: Regardless of title or position, every nurse is uniquely qualified to lead. This conversation underscores how nurses can influence strategic decisions that shape health outcomes, advance equity, ensure quality, and strengthen organizational performance by serving on boards.
We will discuss the distinct value nurses bring to the boardrooms through their clinical expertise, critical thinking, ethical leadership, and firsthand knowledge of patient and community needs. We will examine common barriers to board participation and gain practical guidance on how nurses at every career stage can prepare for and pursue board opportunities.
We will conclude with an interactive discussion, providing time for questions and shared experiences.
Vivian Torres-Suarez is an experienced and influential healthcare executive that has dedicated her career to the operations and management of several home and community-based health care organizations such as home care agencies, managed care organizations, health care centers for adults and children. She was instrumental in the development of the first pediatric long term home care program for children in NYS.
Jeannine Acantilado, RN, MSN, MBA Producer of Breathe: Honoring Voices of Healthcare short films Emotional Intelligence/Leadership Development Consultant/Certified Executive Coach
Lisa Summers, BSN, MSN, DrPH Health Policy Educator & President Healing Politics
Lisa sees Healing Politics as the culmination of a career that was grounded in clinical care and education before expanding to policy and advocacy. Lisa practiced clinically for 20 years as a nurse and midwife and held faculty positions in schools of nursing and medicine before shifting to health policy work. She spent 11 years at the American College of Nurse-Midwives, where she was Director of Professional Services, and held policy positions at the American Nurses Association and Centering Healthcare Institute. She has spoken and written widely on healthcare policy and advocacy and, for 10 years prior to co-founding Healing Politics, taught health policy at Yale School of Nursing.
Joyce Batcheller, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, FAONL, FAAN President, Co-Founder The Nurses Legacy Institute
PAST TOPICS:
JANUARY 2026 Igniting Advocacy and Civic Engagement for Healthier Communities Presenter: Marion Leary PhD, MPH, RN Description: This talk, titled "Igniting Advocacy and Civic Engagement for Healthier Communities," explores how nurses can use their unique skills, compassion, and professional voice to drive meaningful change beyond the bedside. Participants will discover actionable strategies for advocating on behalf of patients, joining political conversations, and stepping into civic engagement roles—from local community initiatives and volunteering to influencing health legislation and participating in voter registration drives. Attendees will leave inspired and equipped to elevate the profession, champion health equity, and make a tangible impact in their communities through leadership, advocacy, and civic engagement.
NOVEMBER 2025 Inertia Doesn’t Help Us: A Call to Action Presenter: Wanda Montalvo, PhD, RN, FAAN, FADLN Description: In these unprecedented times of cultural upheaval and change, what does nursing’s professional code of ethics call upon us to LEAD and DO to advance equitable health policy? In this session we will discuss actionable approaches to challenge systemic oppression and advocate for underserved populations.
OCTOBER 2025 An Acceptable Bias: The Truth about Age and Ageism Presenter: Jackie Dunbar-Jacob, PhD, RN, FAAN Description: Recently, a reputable academic journal headlined: Agism – The Last Acceptable Bias. Is that true? What evidence do you see and how would you fix it? What about the nursing shortage and the aging of nursing? How do we encourage young nurses to want to care for the rapidly growing elderly population? Join us for a lively discussion on aging and agism and nursing care.
SEPTEMBER 2025 Burnout to Breakthrough: How AI is a Game Changer Presenter: Natalie Norem MSN, BSN, RN, FNP-BC Description: Explore the operational wins, ethical and legal considerations, and what the future holds for AI in nursing and healthcare leadership. Join Natalie Norem, FNP, to learn and discuss her frontline experience leading the rollout of an AI scribe tool across a network of ambulatory primary care and specialty clinics.
AUGUST 2025 From Retirement to Encore Career Presenter: Janet L de Vries, LPC, NCC Description: As with the nursing process, assessment and planning are key for identifying interventions that can produce positive outcomes. Retirement or “preferment” as some label it can be rich with new opportunities. This session will address the emotional and social aspects of retirement. It is NOT a financial planning seminar. Discussion will span finding your new identity, grief and loss, possible depression and social isolation as well as relationship changes. Most importantly, planning the “what” in what comes next is spotlighted.
JULY 2025 Elevating Your Impact: Personal Branding, Leadership & Professional Presence Presenter: Dr. Nia Josiah, DNP, MSN, RN, PMHNP Description: This session was designed to ignite your leadership legacy. In this interactive presentation, NurseTRUST leaders explored how personal branding—when grounded in values—can amplify leadership visibility, professional influence, and mentorship effectiveness. Drawing from Duane Brown’s Core Values Framework and the principles of Unique Value Proposition (UVP), this session offered leaders tools to help you align your brand with your purpose.
JUNE 2025 From the Dark Side to the Light Side: The Evolution of For-Profit Nursing Education Facilitators: Fran Roberts, PhD, RN, FAAN, Karen Cox, PhD, RN, FACHE, FAAN, and Tracy Ortelli, Ph.D., RN, CNE, ANEF, FAAN Description: This session focused on the recent emergence of proprietary nursing education programs across the United States. A brief history will be presented followed by the description of 2 prominent for-profit nursing education programs in the US.
MAY 2025 From Awareness to Action: Join Us In Community, Conversation, and Collective Impact Facilitators: Donna Thompson, MS, RN, RWJENF and Erin Denholm, MSN, RN, RWJENF Description: Reflections and dialogue on the SHIFT Film -Everybody’s Work: Healing What Hurts Us All" which examines the hidden disease plaguing healthcare in the United States: structural racism.
FEBRUARY 2025
A Call for Leadership Speaker: Sue Birch, MBA, BSN, RN
Description: The impactful changes to healthcare coming with the new administration federally is a call for Nursing leadership nationally.
SEPTEMBER 2024
Conversations on Healthcare Speaker: Margaret Flinter, APRN, PhD, c-FNP, FAAN, RWJF Executive Nurse Fellow Alum, SVP and Clinical Director of the Moses Weitzman Health System and Community Health Center, Inc. Description: Margaret Flinter discussed her podcast, Conversations on Healthcare, which she has co-hosted with Mark Masselli for many years. The program brings in national and global health and healthcare leaders on health policy, innovation, technology, and global health.
JUNE 2024 Providing an Empathetic Learning Experience for Nurses Speaker: Nancy Bellucci, PhD, MSN-Ed, MS, RN, CNE, CNOR - Academic Program Director - Columbia Southern University Description: This presentation will emphasize the importance of inclusivity in the nursing classroom. It will discuss design thinking and empathetic instructional design and the role empathy plays in course design. The presentation will share methods for embedding inclusivity and promoting critical awareness in the nursing educational environment while remaining empathetic to student needs.
May 2024 Invisible to Visible Speakers: John Lowe, RN, PhD, FAAN, The University of Texas, Austin, Texas and Rose M. Wimbish-Tompkins (Cirilo), PhD, University of Texas at Austin – Steve Hicks School of Social Work Description: This presentation will share the historical and sociocultural impact on the health of marginalized and invisible Native American tribes. Many tribal communities that have remained invisible are beginning the journey to becoming visible. The Health Survey Project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is an example of approaches to bring visibility to the health needs of marginalized tribes.
March 2024 Leading from Within: Applying Wisdom in Everyday Moments Speaker: Cynda Rushton, PhD, RN, FAAN, Professor of Clinical Ethics at John’s Hopkins University School of Nursing Description: It's tempting for leaders to look externally for the answers to the complex questions they face. Leland Kaiser, a healthcare futurist, proposed 108 Wisdom Principles to ground service in the world. Join us to explore how these wisdom principles can ground leaders in their choices and actions.
February 2024 1200 WE-I Profiles & Their EQ Impact on Teams Speakers: Jeannine Acantilado, MSN, MBA, Elan Consulting Services & June Altaras, RN, MN, Multicare Health System Description: Jeannine and June will share insights and observations with how a nursing educator's/leader's internal emotional landscape can impact nursing education and onboarding, healthcare quality, patient outcomes, psychological safety, wellness and resilience and staff satisfaction.
January 2024 Nursing Leadership in National Policy: Updates on the RAISE Family Caregiving Advisory Council Speaker: Casey Shillam, PhD, RN, FAAN, Provost and Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs for Southern Oregon University Description:Casey shared her experience as Co-Chair of the Raise Family Caregiving Advisory Council followed by small group breakouts for a discussion on how you support others or receive support in contributing to national policy.
The Department of Education's Proposed Rule Regarding "Reimagining and Improving Student Education" (Docket ID ED-2025-OPE-0944) is now open for public comment until March 2, 2026.
Let's Talk About It! Join us on February 19 at 4pm ET for a Special TRUSTed Conversation with Experts from Our Profession - Suzanne Miyamoto PhD, RN, FAAN, CEO, American Academy of Nursing and Rachel L. Minahan, MA, Chief Government Affairs and Policy Officer, American Association of Colleges of Nursing. RSVP HERE!
Make Plans to Attend the 2026 NurseTRUST Summit! Voices of Impact: Nursing Leadership & Advocacy in Action
NurseTRUST honors Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a nurse whose career was devoted to caring for patients and serving veterans. His loss is deeply felt across the nursing community and beyond. Our thoughts are with his family, friends, colleagues, and all those he served. His commitment to healing and service reflects the very heart of nursing. We join Mr. Pretti’s family and the community grieving his loss.
NurseTRUST Celebrates Heather Coleman, MSN, RN, on being named Chief Nursing Officer of CommonSpirit’s Northwest Region!
Congratulations to Jeannine Acantilado, RN, MSN, MBQ & the BREATHE: Honoring Voices of Healthcare team on global recognition for their powerful film! Check out the trailer here!
We are thrilled to announce that NurseTRUST will be a nonprofit partner at the 2026 NAHN Hispanic Health Policy Summit (HHPS) in Washington, D.C. from February 10-11, 2026! Learn more here and register at a special rate!
The Nurse State Legislators Webinar is now up on the Center for Health Policy's website in the 2025 Events Tab under "Nurse State Legislators.
June Chan: A legacy of compassion, vision and leadership June was recently featured in the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs Newsletter. Check it out here!
You're invited to participate in an important research study exploring a new way to understand clinician well-being and integrity.
Self-care has long been recognized as essential for clinicians. However, the term is often oversimplified—reduced to surface-level solutions promoted by a multibillion-dollar wellness industry. Our team is developing a more meaningful approach: a validated scale to measure self-stewardship among nurses, doctors, social workers, and chaplains practicing in healthcare.
Dr. Azizeh Sowan, Principal Investigator, and Dr. Nelson Tuazon, Co-investigator, would like to invite you to participate in this research survey on Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Nurse Leaders in Healthcare Settings.The UT Health San Antonio IRB determined that the proposed activity is not regulated research involving human subjects as defined by DHHS regulations at 45 CFR 46 and FDA regulations at 21 CFR 56. Dr. Sowan is Professor and Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives,Thelma and Joe Crow Endowed Professor at UT Health San Antonio and Dr. Tuazon is an Adjunct Faculty at UT Health San Antonio and Board Member of NurseTRUST. LEARN MORE HERE!
Don’t fold nursing science—fund it! GW Nursing ProfessorAshley Darcy Mahoney, PhD, NNP and RWJF Nurse Faculty Scholar,co-authored a powerful call to action inNurse Educator, urging policymakers and the public to protect the future of nurse-led research.
Suzanne Miyamoto PhD, RN, FAAN
Jeannine Acantilado, RN, MSN, MBA
