Alison is the Executive Director for the Washington State Board of Nursing and a community health nurse at heart. She came into nursing by way of working in indigenous public health in the Peace Corps Panama and has carried this commitment to working across communities throughout her professional career.

Her experience spans acute care, academia, long-term care, and community health settings. She received her doctorate of nursing practice from Vanderbilt University and her master’s in public health and in nursing leadership from the University of Washington. Alison’s areas of expertise include system improvement, quality, leadership development, nursing practice, education, and workforce development.

Alison worked at Virginia Mason Medical Center for 19 years, first as a nurse technician and eventually as the Chief Nursing Officer. She has published several peer-reviewed articles on hospital quality, social determinants of health, and COVID-19 interventions. She is the past co-chair of the Washington Nurses Action Coalition working with a variety of community organizations to address social determinants of health and issues of healthcare inequity. She continues to volunteer locally supporting underserved communities and abroad to support the development of healthcare delivery systems and nursing practice in low- and middle-income countries.

Amanda is a dedicated and passionate physical therapist specializing in the treatment of pelvic floor disorders, including incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, pelvic pain, and pregnancy-related issues. She earned her doctorate in 2008 and has years of diverse clinical experience. The American Physical Therapy Association and the Herman and Wallace Pelvic Institute (PRPC) have also certified her as an advanced pelvic floor practitioner (CAPP-PF). Amanda is proud to be Intimate Rose’s President and Chief Clinical Officer. The company’s mission is to improve the health of women worldwide.

Anisa is a Clinical Nurse Specialist Advanced Practice Nurse, currently working as a Neurology Nurse Coordinator at VA Puget Sound. While she serves the entire neurology service, her passion is for the Movement Disorders population, and working with the VA Parkinson's Disease Research Education and Clinical Care (PADRECC) Center of Excellence. Anisa is a 2021-2022 Edmund J Safra Visiting Nurse Faculty Scholar through the Parkinson's Foundation. One of her goals is to continue to build the PADRECC center at VA Puget Sound (VAPS), which serves veterans from Alaska, Montana, Idaho, and Washington. She is currently working with the Rehabilitation Service at VAPS on a quality improvement project to provide truly interdisciplinary care for veterans with movement disorders by connecting PADRECC patients with the Rehabilitation Care Services at VAPS.

Previously she was a Clinical Nurse Educator on the Spinal Cord Injury service at VAPS for nearly 5 years. She has also been a staff nurse in the acute inpatient neurorehabilitation unit at the University of Washington and in the Neuroscience ICU at Harborview Medical Center.

Anisa earned a master's degree in Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California - Berkeley where she was working on her PhD. She then went on to work in biotech for several years before moving to WA state and earning a BSN at the University of Washington in 2011 and her MN in 2015.

She is currently on the Board of Directors for ARNPs United.

Conference Co-chair

Bob graduated from the University at Buffalo School of Nursing in 1979 and the University of Pennsylvania as a Master’s FNP in 1981. Along with his partner, Maddy Wiley, they co-founded FamilyCare of Kent, a nurse-managed center in Kent, Washington. He is a family nurse practitioner with an interest in women’s health. For over 25 years, he has taught at conferences on various topics and is currently faculty at Pacific Lutheran University in the DNP program. He is a past president of AANP, the current Executive Director of ARNPs United of Washington State, and is clearly failing retirement.

Bridget has a DNP in Family Practice and Palliative Care certification from the University of Washington. She is the 2021-2022 winner of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Outstanding DNP Award for Advancing Nursing Practice. She is currently studying for her Mindfulness Meditation Teaching Teacher Certificate.

Cari has been part owner and medical director of Worker Care for 10 years in Yakima, Washington, a clinic dedicated to helping injured workers. After working in the hospital setting for twelve years, she went back to school and graduated from Gonzaga University in 2009 with her MSN in family practice.

Cari contracts at Fort Simcoe Job Corps, providing care for at-risk youth. She enjoys hiking, stand-up paddle boarding, and skiing.

Carol is a clinical associate professor at the University of Washington’s School of Pharmacy and is deeply involved in the teaching and development of the school’s geriatric curriculum. She works in both inpatient and outpatient geriatric settings at Harborview Medical Center, collaborating with providers and patients. She lectures at the School of Pharmacy as well as the UW Department of Geriatrics. Professional interests include education, transitions of care, falls and medication safety.

As a dedicated family nurse practitioner and Assistant Professor at Pacific Lutheran University, Carrie Ann embodies a commitment to compassionate health care and community service. Graduating from Case Western Reserve University in 1999 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, she pursued further education, earning a Master of Nursing from the University of Washington School of Nursing in 2004 and a Doctor of Nursing Practice from Pacific Lutheran University in 2018.

Driven by a heartfelt passion for mental health advocacy, Dr. Matyac recently expanded her expertise by becoming a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, seeking to address the critical shortage of mental health providers. Over her 25-year career, she has consistently directed her efforts towards supporting marginalized communities, including those in rural areas, tribal communities, and among the homeless and Latinx populations, predominantly within community health settings.

In her practice, Dr. Matyac confronts the complex challenges of mental health and substance use disorders, with a particular focus on addressing uncontrolled chronic pain. Adapting to evolving opioid prescribing guidelines in 2015, she took on a leadership role on the Controlled Substances Steering committee at Providence Medical Group, where she worked to guide healthcare providers in implementing best practices for prescribing opioids while ensuring effective pain management.

"Dr. Kat," is the founder and clinical director of Yellow Brick Clinic: Integrative ADHD, Autism, Developmental Behavioral Health (YBC), which serves neurodiverse children, adolescents, and transitioning young adults in the Pacific Northwest. Yellow Brick Clinic is also an Ehlers-Danlos Society Center and Networks of Excellence (CNE). Dr. Kat completed a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) at Gonzaga University, a Post Master’s Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Certificate at the University of Cincinnati, a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) at Seattle Pacific University, and her initial Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) at Lander University. She has had additional training with the University of Washington LEND Community Fellowship, the ADOS-2 and STAT evaluation tools, became board-certified as a Pediatric Primary Care Mental Health Specialist (PMHS), and is currently pursuing the MAPS Clinical Fellowship. Dr. Kat finds joy in teaching other nurse practitioners as a clinical professor and preceptor with Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) and developing CE programs such as “Autism ABCs for PCPs” and “Disruptive, Impulse-Control, and Conduct Disorders: Assessment, Evaluation, and Treatment in Primary Care”.

Kathy is an experienced health executive, educator, and doctoral-prepared, dual-certified nurse practitioner (Family and Emergency) with 24+ years of leadership, process improvement, strategic planning, implementation, and evaluation experience. Comfortable working in ambiguous/dynamic environments she develops cohesive, highly productive teams to identify, develop, and implement relevant services/processes and strategic plans to meet current and future healthcare operations. She is familiar with academic, hospital, and clinic certification and recertification. Her experience spans academic, clinical acute, ambulatory, rural/austere and military/VA systems and operations. She maintains a current traditional NP practice and incorporates components of acupuncture, TCM and alternative therapies to expand patient care services and improve outcomes.

Kristine has been a PMHNP for over 10 years and is certified as an Addictions Advanced Practice Nurse. She has experience working in residential addictions treatment centers, involuntary hospitalization, and at a university clinic seeing graduate and undergraduate students, where she also provides psychiatric consultation to primary care providers. In addition to her clinical work, she is passionate about supporting ARNP practice by volunteering for AAPPN, where she served on the board for 6 years including as President and on their legislative committee, and is also on ARNPs United's legislative committee.

In her free time, she enjoys time outdoors with her family, a nice glass of wine, and a good high-intensity interval training workout.

Leslie has 40 years of direct patient care experience. Through her career she has provided care in community and public health centers, hospitals, private practice, and oncology centers.

Board certified in family practice and as a nurse coach, Leslie currently focuses much of her work in the fields of cancer survivorship, patient advocacy, and healthcare provider wellness as a nurse entrepreneur. She is the founding director of the Cancer Survivorship Provider Network at TheCSPN.org which provides peer support and education for professionals working with cancer survivors. She is also President of Green Labyrinth at Green-Labyrinth.com with a mission to provide sacred sanctuary for family and professional caregivers addressing grief, loss, and burnout.

Lorraine is board certified as both a family and emergency nurse practitioner. She received her MSN from the University of Pennsylvania and her DNP from Robert Morris University. She started her own practice in 1999 and currently owns primary care practices in Pennsylvania (PA) and Massachusetts. She was instrumental in persuading Blue Cross and Blue Shield of PA to recognize NPs as primary care providers and pay them independent of their physician collaborators as part of her doctoral work. She is a co-founder of the National Nurse Practitioner Entrepreneur Network. Her passion is helping NP Entrepreneurs achieve their dream of practice ownership by serving as a mentor and consultant. She has been speaking about practice ownership and entrepreneurship at conferences across the US since 2017. Dr. Bock served as the NP for the PA House of Representatives and as a member of the PA Capitol Police Special Response Team (SRT). She has been awarded both AANP’s state awards for Clinical Excellence and NP Advocacy. She is the only NP in PA to be chosen by her peers to receive both the Sheila Gealey Award and the Mona Counts award, both sponsored by the PA Coalition of Nurse Practitioners. Dr Bock was inducted as a Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners in 2014.

Maddy graduated from the University at Buffalo School of Nursing in 1977 and the University of Pennsylvania as a Master’s FNP in 1980. Along with her partner, Bob Smithing, they co-founded FamilyCare of Kent, a nurse-managed center in Kent, Washington. She is a family nurse practitioner with an interest in women’s health and dermatology and is currently faculty at Pacific Lutheran University in the DNP program. She is a founding officer of AANP and is clearly failing retirement. She also coordinates travel for her spouse and family taking several trips per year, enjoys camping on Lake Cle Elum and volunteers at the Kent Activity Senior Center. She is the state volunteer coordinator for Golden Bond Rescue working with and aiding Golden Retrievers in the Pacific Northwest.

Mary Ellen is a family nurse practitioner with fifteen years of experience in primary care, opiate use and substance use disorder in Washington State. She is an Assistant Professor of Nursing at Frontier Nursing University, and has authored and presented widely on harm reduction, and treatment of opiate use and substance use disorder.

Meg is a nurse practitioner working in neurology, predominantly in headache medicine, since October 2018. She holds an Added Qualification in Headache (AQH) from the National Headache Foundation and is currently employed by Puget Sound Neurology in Tacoma. Before this, she was a headache clinic nurse practitioner at Multicare Health System in Spokane and Tacoma and from 2020-2021 ran a headache clinic at a private practice that also focused on movement disorders and complex neurodegenerative and neuromuscular diseases. Meg graduated from Gonzaga University in 2010 with a Bachelors of Science in Nursing and started her nursing career in Baltimore in the cardiac medical ICU, later working as a nurse planner, educator, and urgent care nurse while completing her Doctor of Nursing Practice as a Family Nurse Practitioner at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Chapel Hill. In addition to studying abroad and completing a Certificate in Global Health from UNC, she holds an MBA in Healthcare Management from Western Governors University.

Conference Co-chair

Nancy has been a Family Nurse Practitioner for over 40 years. Her work experience includes primary health care delivery and training of health care workers in Federally Qualified Health Centers, in refugee camps, and with the World Health Organization. She has devoted her career to serving patients experiencing housing and food insecurity and working toward greater health equity. She has served on the board of ARNPs United of Washington State since 2010, and as President from 2011-2020. She was the Washington State representative to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) from 2013-2019. In 2022 she became the first recipient of the national history grant from the AANP.

Risa is a family nurse practitioner and poet living in Sequim, WA. She works with Jamestown Family Health Clinic and Assured Hospice. Over her career she has worked in family medicine, HIV/AIDS, substance abuse, chronic pain, and hospice and palliative care. She volunteers with End-of-Life Washington and The Sequim Free Clinic.

Ruby is an ANCC board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner specializing in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at Seattle Reproductive Medicine. She received her Bachelor of Nursing Science from Montana State University where she graduated with highest honors. She graduated from the University of Washington with a Doctor of Nursing Practice in the Family Nurse Practitioner specialty. Her doctoral capstone project focused on identifying and improving barriers to fertility care for LGBTQIA+ people.

Ruby has a passion for nutrition, lifestyle medicine, and integrating whole-person wellness into the field of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. She is a board certified American College of Lifestyle Medicine diplomat and has received a Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate from the T. Colin Campbell Center of Nutrition Studies at Cornell University.

Samala was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She earned her BS at Cornell University in 2001 and then went on to earn an MA in Science Education from Teachers College, Columbia University in 2002. Samala was a middle school science and math teacher in a public school in Brooklyn for 2 years. She then taught high school biology, anatomy and physiology and algebra at Cascade High School in Everett after moving to Washington in 2004 while her husband finished medical school. They moved back to NYC in 2006 for his residency. She was an enrichment counselor at an after school program at Columbia University for minority high school students for a year while applying to nursing school. Samala entered Columbia University's entry to practice program (BSN to MSN) in 2007 and graduated as a WHNP in 2009. She worked at a private Gyn office in NYC for a year, then worked at Planned Parenthood of NYC for three years before moving back to WA. They had their first daughter in NYC in 2011 and moved back to WA in 2013 after her husband finished his fellowship. Initially, she worked at an outpatient Ob/Gyn office with MultiCare in Auburn. They had their second daughter in Tacoma in 2014. In 2015, she switched jobs and started working for Planned Parenthood in the Tacoma Health Center and has been there ever since. Samala enjoys educating her patients. She also feel it's important for patients in the community she serves to see a provider of color. It creates a sense of trust and comfort for many patients. A similar reason as to why she taught in public schools when she was a teacher - she wants to give back to a community that so often goes unheard. She enjoys teaching and continues to do so with her patients as well as student NPs, residents and new providers. Samala and her husband now have 3 kids ages 13yo, 9yo and 5yo, as well as 3 cats and a dog. Needless to say life is very busy. Her family still resides on the East Coast and she still considers herself a New Yorker, even though she’s been here most recently for 11 years.

Sandra is a nationally recognized expert in obesity medicine, specializing in treatment since 2005. She owns Integrative Medical Weight Management in Seattle, Washington, and holds a Certificate of Advanced Education in Obesity Medicine from the Obesity Medicine Association (OMA). She is a trustee for both the OMA and the Washington Obesity Society. In recognition of her achievements, Dr. Christensen was named Clinician of the Year by the OMA in 2022.

Sandra is a sought-after speaker, addressing audiences on obesity at international, national, state, and local conferences and webinars. Her dedication extends beyond clinical practice, as she is actively involved in projects and initiatives that educate clinicians about obesity treatment and advocates for improved access to care.

Sandra has authored "A Clinician's Guide to Discussing Obesity with Patients," published by Springer Nature Switzerland, and serves as Associate Editor of Obesity Pillars, the journal of the OMA. She has co-authored several clinical practice statements in the journal and contributed to the OMA Obesity Algorithm.

Throughout her career, Sandra has demonstrated a deep commitment to educating others about the complexities of obesity. Her multifaceted approach, encompassing clinical practice, speaking engagements, writing, mentorship, and advocacy, empowers clinicians to address obesity with both knowledge and compassion.

Sarah started her career as a licensed midwife and has gone on to practice as an International Board of Lactation Consultant and family nurse practitioner, having graduated from Pacific Lutheran University in 2013. After five years in family practice, she returned to her first love of women's health, and has practiced in obstetrics and gynecology, in a specialty endometriosis clinic and now in a dual gynecology and urogynecology practice. She holds a MPH from the University of Washington with an emphasis in maternal and child health.

Simon is a graduate of Seattle University’s midwifery program. They are a fellow of the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) and received the 2021 Excellence in Leadership and Innovation Award from ACNM. They have clinical specialties in abortion care, LGBTQ family building, and GYN care for transgender and non-binary people. They are in clinical practice at Cedar River Clinics in Seattle and Tacoma, WA.

Sofia is the Executive Director for the Washington Center for Nursing (WCN) and Mayor of the City of Burien.

The WCN is the state nursing workforce center advancing nursing leadership, diversity, and workforce development.

She enjoyed 20 years in public policy, representing the interest of registered nurses as Senior Governmental Affairs advisor at the WA State Nurses Association, school nurses for the School Nurse Organization of Washington, and ARNPs for ARNPs United of Washington State. She advocated on state legislative issues such as workplace safety for nurses, public health funding, adoption of the Affordable Care Act, funding for nursing education, signature authority for ARNPs, and racial equity. She received the 2016 State Advocate Award from the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.

Sofia served on the Burien City Council; in 2022, the council elected her Mayor. She chaired the Airport Committee to address health and environmental concerns of communities living near SeaTac Airport, passed the first city Climate Action Plan, the first city Proclamation Against Anti-Asian Hate in Washington, wrestled with homelessness and affordable housing, and worked to raise awareness of the growing opioid epidemic, and gaps in public safety. She represented the Association of WA Cities on the Governor’s Public Health Advisory Board.

Sofia earned a B.A. in Economics from the University of Washington, a BSN in Nursing from Seattle University, and a Juris Doctor from Loyola University — Chicago School of Law. She’s a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.

Therese Dumas is a PhD candidate at WSU, currently working in the Cardiology Department of Skagit Regional Clinics. She received her MS in nursing from UCLA as an acute care nurse practitioner in 1997. She has over 25 years of experience as a cardiology nurse practitioner. She is an avid football fan (go Saints!) and book reader. She is interested in learning to play the piano and has two wonderful adult children.

Tyler is an Adult-Gerontology Nurse Practitioner at Overlake Medical Center & Clinics - Pulmonary Medicine in Bellevue, Washington. He attended Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada where he obtained his Bachelor of Science in Nursing Degree in 2010. During his undergraduate studies he was the President of the Lakehead University Nursing Association (LUNA) and later became heavily involved in the Canadian Nursing Students' Association (CNSA) where he served as Ontario Regional Director (2007-2008) and as President (2008-2009). As President he was also a board member of both the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) and Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU). Tyler began his career at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC) as a Medical-Surgical Registered Nurse, specializing in orthopedics and cardiac-telemetry. He also worked casually in a long-term care facility where he continued to foster an appreciation for gerontology. When the opportunity presented itself to relocate to the Pacific Northwest, Tyler transitioned into the critical care environment for the next six years, practicing in Tacoma, Everett and Bellevue, mainly in the cardiovascular ICU setting. In 2013 he decided to embark on a new journey within nursing and started his Master of Nursing Degree at the University of Toronto in the Adult-Gerontology Nurse Practitioner stream. During his studies he trained in a variety of settings including inpatient cardiology, inpatient internal medicine and outpatient pulmonology. He graduated in November 2015 and began practicing in outpatient pulmonology in April 2016. His main areas of clinical interest include chronic cough, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma. In his spare time, Tyler loves to travel, hike, and stand-up paddleboard.