Karen Gabel Speroni, PhD, RN, BSN, MHSA:  

Dr. Speroni is a research infrastructure and process expert who uniquely integrates organizational missions with research goals to facilitate evidence-informed practice of nursing, ultimately to advance the practice of nursing, including patient outcomes and work environment.

She has over 30 years of experience in biomedical research and hospital consultation, including hospital-based research, nursing excellence and evidence-based practice, as well serving on Institutional Review Boards, and university teaching.

• Serves as a consultant and educator with the American Nurses Association, for hospitals on their Magnet® and Pathway to Excellence® journey; Certificate Holder, Fundamentals of Magnet
• Is adjunct faculty at Johns Hopkins School of nursing, serving as a Principal Investigator in multi-center, international research; 
• Provides research consultations to develop and sustain research programs for Magnet recognition for multiple health care systems and hospital, including Johns Hopkins and University of Maryland Shore Regional Health; and
• Presents research processes and research findings nationally and internationally, and Authors research / healthcare-related publications.

Molly McNett, PhD, RN, CNRN, FNCS, FAAN

Dr. McNett is a Professor of Clinical Nursing at The Ohio State University and Assistant Director of Implementation Science at the Helene Fuld Health Trust National Institute for Evidence-Based Practice (EBP). Dr. McNett’s research centers on care of critically ill patients after severe neurological injury.

In her work, she has led funded, multi-site studies, and routinely leads international, interdisciplinary guideline development groups in critically synthesizing the research literature to generate meaningful practice recommendations. She has extensive experience working with leadership teams in health systems to apply research findings and evidence-based practice recommendations using an implementation science approach.

She routinely leads interdisciplinary teams in creating infrastructures for EBP and research, and has led numerous task forces to integrate key components of research, evidence-based practice, implementation science, and quality improvement initiatives into healthcare settings.

Benita N. Chatmon, PhD, MSN, RN, CNE

Dr. Benita Chatmon is the Assistant Dean for Clinical Nursing Education and holds the rank of Assistant Professor of Clinical Nursing. She also holds an appointment at Children’s Hospital in New Orleans as their nurse researcher and an appointment in the school of Graduate Studies.

Dr. Chatmon has been a registered nurse for more than 15 years and a nurse educator for the past 13 years. Dr. Chatmon is a Certified Nurse Educator through the National League for Nursing and a Certified Adult and Youth Mental Health First Aid Instructor through the National Council for Wellbeing. She has taught in both the undergraduate and graduate program and currently teaches only in the graduate program teaching in Nurse Educator courses and Research courses.

• Previously served as the Faculty Organization Chair in the LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing
• A member of several committees focused on the education of nursing students to include curriculum committee, Academic Undergraduate Council, Academic Graduate Council, and LSU Health New Orleans Faculty Senate.
• Currently serves as President for Louisiana State Nurses Association.
• Serves as a member of the Louisiana Action Coalition, the Board of Trustees for the Louisiana Nurses Foundation, and the Board of Trustees for CrescentCare, a Federal Qualified Health Center (FQHC)

In addition, she also serves on national committees and boards to include the Association of Black Nursing Faculty, National Black Nurses Association, and SNRS.

Royanne Lichliter

Royanne Lichliter, Director of Quality Education and Simulation at Texas Children's Hospital, obtained her BSN from Mesa State College in 2003. Royanne started her career at Children’s Hospital Colorado as a bedside nurse on the Inpatient Medical Unit. In 2016, she transitioned to Texas Children's Hospital, where she currently serves as the Director of Quality Education and Simulation at. Through the years, she has gained over 15 years of leadership experience. In 2017 Royanne received her Masters of Science in Nursing Leadership from Western Governors University. 

While at Children’s Hospital Colorado, Royanne led many quality projects. In addition, she also was the PI for a study comparing to different methods for obtaining samples for antibiotic levels in pediatric patients.  This later was published, “Therapeutic antibiotic serum concentrations by two blood collection methods within the pediatric patient: A comparative effectiveness trial.” 

Royanne became a simulation instructor at Children’s Hospital Colorado in 2008 where she helped lead and conduct low fidelity codes throughout the organization.  Her passion for providing patients with safe care led her down the road of quality and safety, where she became a clinical lead on multiple initiatives and sought out opportunities that improved care, such as simulation. 

Royanne has collaborated with others to do some pre-conference presentations for simulation, such as “Optimize High Reliability: Use simulation as a QI-Patient Safety Improvement Tool”; “Simulation as Key Driver for High Reliability”; “Simulation as a Quality Tool”; “Leader Rounding Simulations”, etc. In addition, she has collaborated to submit many simulations related abstracts for publication.