Edson College Speakers Bureau
Looking for a dynamic speaker for your next meeting or event? ASU’s Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation is home to the Edson College Speakers Bureau, composed of nearly two dozen professionals who are available to speak on a wide range of topics. There is no cost for you or your organization when you utilize one of our speakers. We‘ll also help promote any event a member of the bureau speaks at, helping you increase public awareness for your event and organization.
To book a speaker, complete a Request Form.
Check out our latest event's presentations on YouTube!
Angel Algarin
Angel Algarin is an assistant professor in the Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation. Broadly, he studies the impact of social stigma on HIV care and prevention. As a National Institute on Drug Abuse K01 awardee, he is working on a project, “Addressing intersectional stigma through coping, resistance and resilience to improve methamphetamine use and factors influencing PrEP uptake among Latino MSM: a step toward ending HIV by 2030.”
Speaker Topics:
- Alcohol/substance abuse
- Health promotion
- HIV
- LGBT health
- Public and community health
- Stigma
- Global health
- Disease prevention
- Latino health
- Population health
- Sexual risk behavior
Zachary Baker
Zachary Baker’s career is devoted to understanding former caregivers of those with dementia and helping them access necessary psychosocial resources and technological tools to thrive. A methodologically uninhibited researcher, Baker enjoys digging into complex quantitative data, nuanced qualitative data and rich theory alike. Paramount in his research are community ties: those with lived experience oversee and advise his work to ensure it addresses the needs of those whom he seeks to help.
Speaker Topics:
- Alzheimer's and related dementias
- Community-based participatory research
- Bereavement
- Caregiving
- Mixed methods
- Implementation science
Margaret Calacci
Margaret Calacci is a clinical associate professor in the Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation at Arizona State University. With expertise in nursing education, Calacci provides faculty coaching in her specialty of simulation, mentoring and developing nurse educators and learners. She is a leader in interprofessional education, teaching and learning strategies. When away from ASU, she enjoys lifelong learning through doctoral education, spending time with her children and their dog, and traveling.
Speaker Topics:
- Accreditation
- Simulation education
- Interprofessional practice
- Simulation science
Michael Collins
Mike Collins is originally from Waverly, NY. He graduated from Waverly High School and attended Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA. He received a bachelor’s degree in human biology and a Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Logan College in Chesterfield, MO.
Collins has been in private practice as a chiropractor for 19 years, and this is his sixth year at ASU, where he currently teaches health science classes at ASU. Collins lives in Gilbert, AZ with his daughter Ciara (9).
Collins has been in private practice as a chiropractor for 19 years, and this is his sixth year at ASU, where he currently teaches health science classes at ASU. Collins lives in Gilbert, AZ with his daughter Ciara (9).
Speaker Topics:
- Allied health
- Resilience/Wellness
- Mindfulness
Kelly Cue Davis
Kelly Davis is a professor in the Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation, as well as a licensed clinical psychologist. Her primary research interests include health risk behaviors, with a particular emphasis on the intersection of sexual violence, sexual risk and substance use. Davis’ work has targeted sexual assault assessment, response, prevention and policy in both K-12 and higher education institutions, as well as within the military and legal system. Her emphasis is on the role of alcohol in sexual assault perpetration and victimization. Davis is a recent recipient of a MERIT award from the National Institutes of Health and has been selected as a Fulbright Scholar.
Speaker Topics:
- Alcohol/substance abuse
- Sexual risk behavior
- Trauma
- Gender-based violence
- Sexual violence
Nancy Denke
Nancy Denke holds degrees from Penn State University, University of North Carolina, St. Louis University and a DNP- Innovation Leadership from Arizona State University. Currently she is a neuro/stroke nurse practitioner in Scottsdale, and a part-time DNP faculty member at ASU. Denke enjoys opportunities to contribute to the clinical training of nurse practitioners and RN students, as well participating as a mentor for active duty Air Force RN’s in the Critical Care/Emergency Trauma Nurse Fellowship program at HonorHealth-Osborn. She has presented numerous topics related to emergency/neuro/trauma nursing to national and international audiences and has numerous publications to her credit.
Speaker Topics:
- Alcohol/substance abuse
- Trauma
- Allied health
- Emergency nursing and advanced practice
Aaron Guest
Aaron Guest is an assistant professor of aging with the Edson College Center for Innovation in Healthy and Resilient Aging. He’s a socio-environmental gerontologist whose research interest lies at the nexus of the social and built environments. Specifically, Guest focuses on the interrelationships among marginalized older adults’ networks, identity, activity spaces and health in order to develop tailored interventions to improve health.
Speaker Topics:
- Aging/healthy aging
- Dementia
- DEIB
- LGBT health
- Population health
- Qualitative methods
- Aging-in-Place
- Alzheimer's and related dementias
- Community-based participatory research
- Health equity
- Mixed methods
- Public and community health
- Environmental gerontology
- Social networks
Rachel Gur-Arie
Rachel Gur-Arie is an assistant professor with Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation. Her expertise lies at the intersection of ethics, global health and policy. Prior to joining ASU, she was a Hecht-Levi postdoctoral fellow, focused on ethics and infectious disease. Gur-Arie was jointly appointed at the Berman Institute of Bioethics of Johns Hopkins University and The Wellcome Center for Ethics and Humanities at the University of Oxford, supported by the Wellcome Trust. She completed her doctorate in health systems management and served as a Fulbright Scholar at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel.
Speaker Topics:
- COVID19
- Global health
- Health interventions
- Health promotion and disease prevention
- Population health
- Qualitative methods
- Bioethics
- Ethical decision-making
- Health equity
- Health law and policy
- Intervention design
- Public and community health
- Vaccine hesitancy
Judith Karshmer
Judith Karshmer is dean and professor of Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation. Her focus is on expanding the global footprint of the college through academic-practice partnerships that promote the college’s research agenda while embedding students and faculty in the community in meaningful ways. Karshmer is a board member of the CCNE, and a member of the AACN Competency-Based Education for Doctoral Prepared APRNs National Task Force.
Speaker Topics:
- Academic-practice partnerships
- Leadership
- Innovation in Nursing & Health care
- Strategies for Change
Katherine Kenny
Dr. Katherine (Kathy) Kenny is the Associate Dean of the Academic Enterprise and Clinical Professor at Edson College. She is a Board-Certified Adult Nurse Practitioner. Dr. Kenny has unique experiences that connect practice, leadership, academics and innovation. Scholarly activities include end-of-life and palliative care, education, leadership, integrative therapies, inter-professional practice with a specific interest in mentoring relationships, and innovative approaches to healthcare delivery. She serves on local and national boards including the American Nurses Association (ANA) Innovation Advisory Board, President of the Board of American Heart Association Phoenix, and Chairperson for the Professional Advisory Board at Arizona Cancer Support Community. She was inducted as a Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners in 2013 and as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing in 2015.
Speaker Topics:
- Doctor of Nursing Practice topics
- Interprofessional education and practice
- Palliative care
- Evidence-based practice
- Nursing and health innovation
Craig Laser
Craig Laser, Assistant Dean for Strategic Partnerships and Innovation at Edson College, is an innovative practitioner, scholar and inclusive health care leader. He integrates his knowledge and practice of leadership, performance, organization development and systems thinking to help individuals, teams and organizations create success and operationalize innovative ideas in nursing and health system practices. Laser is accomplished in engaging individuals and teams, achieving results, and exceeding performance expectations to innovate nursing excellence and empowerment.
Speaker Topics:
- Clinical partnerships
- Interprofessional practice
- Trauma
- Organization development
- Change leadership
- Emergency/trauma/critical care
- Health innovation and technology
- Nursing shortage
- Leadership
- Cultures
- Implementation science
Angela Lober
Angela Lober is a clinical associate professor and Director of the Academy of Lactation Programs at the Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation. She is a community advocate, academic and writer. She has been a registered nurse since 2001 and an International Board-Certified Lactation consultant since 2005, providing evidence-based care to families in her community. She is a clinical research director at Banner University Medical Center – Phoenix where she supports nurse researchers. Lober is also committed to education and mentorship as a means of uplifting and uniting healthcare professions.
Speaker Topics:
- Education and mentorship for health care professionals
- Nurse research
- Lactation education and training
Derek Manis
Derek Manis is an interdisciplinary health services and policy researcher who has expertise in big data analytics, observational and quasi-experimental study designs, and systematic review methods. His research focuses on the care of older adults in home and community care settings. Specifically, he examines health care quality, models of care and health outcomes among older adults who reside in residential care facilities (e.g., assisted living facilities, nursing homes, etc.).
Speaker Topics:
- Aging/healthy aging
- Biostats
- Long-term care
- Public and community health
- Health economics
- Alzheimer's and related dementias
- Quantitative methods
- Population health
- Epidemiology
Barret Michalec
Barret Michalec is an associate professor in the Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation and the director of the Center for Advancing Interprofessional Practice, Education and Research (CAIPER). A sociologist by training, Michalec’s research examines socialization and professionalization processes and mechanisms nested within health professions education and practice. His work also explores disparities in health, healthcare, and within the health professions, with a focus on how structural design of pre-professional pathways may perpetuate the lack of diversity of the healthcare workforce.
Speaker Topics:
- Health Equity
- Qualitative methods
- Humility
- Emotions
- Interprofessional Practice
- Resilience/Wellness
- Empathy
- Professionalism (in healthcare and health professions education)
Chung Jung Mun
Chung Jung Mun is an assistant professor in the Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation at ASU. He directs the Biobehavioral Pain, Addiction, Sleep and Momentary Experience (Bi-PAS ME) Research Laboratory. Mun’s program of research includes investigating biopsychosocial individual differences and momentary dynamics of pain processing and coping; the role of sleep/circadian disturbances and cannabis/cannabinoid intake in pain and opioid use; and technology-based intervention programs for chronic pain and addiction.
Speaker Topics:
- Alcohol/substance abuse
- Biostats
- Depression
- Health promotion and disease prevention
- Mindfulness
- Sleep and circadian science
- Anxiety
- Quantitative methods
- Health interventions
- mHealth and eHealth
- Resilience/wellness
Janet O’Brien
Janet O'Brien is a clinical professor in the Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation. She coordinates the standardized patient clinical exams and the MS program in health care simulation. O'Brien's research interests include competency assessment using simulation and reliability and validity testing in the design of simulation scenarios and measurement instruments.
Speaker Topics:
- Simulation education
Megan Petrov
Megan Petrov is an associate professor in the Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation at ASU. Her research interests include the role of sleep and circadian rhythms on the development of chronic diseases across the lifespan; identifying and reducing sleep health disparities; and developing, adapting and testing scalable behavioral sleep medicine interventions that not only improve sleep, but prevent sleep-associated chronic diseases.
Speaker Topics:
- Maternal-child health
- mHealth and eHealth
- Sleep and circadian science
Joe Russo
Joe Russo is Senior Director of the Edson College Learning Enterprise at ASU’s Edson College. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry, a master’s degree in public health and a doctorate of public health in maternal and child health. His research focuses on data-driven methods to address health care access disparities in reproductive health. His work focuses on health systems development, program implementation and increasing accessibility of services.
Speaker Topics:
- Health equity
- Health promotion and disease prevention
- Maternal-child health
- Public and community health
- Social determinants of health
- Health law and policy
- Intervention design
- Online education
- Sexual risk behavior
Cheryl Schmidt
Cheryl Schmidt is a clinical professor in ASU’s Edson College. Her research interests include disaster preparedness of nursing students. Schmidt co-authored the American Red Cross "Disaster Health and Sheltering" course, which has prepared more than 6,000 students throughout the U.S. to serve as volunteers in Red Cross disaster shelters. Schmidt is also a member of the research committee of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Emergency Management Evaluation Center (VEMEC).
Speaker Topics:
- Population health
- Disaster preparedness
- Public and community health
Gabriel Shaibi
Gabe Shaibi is professor and Southwest Borderlands Scholar in the Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation at ASU. His research examines obesity-related health in high-risk and vulnerable populations with an emphasis on understanding and preventing cardiometabolic diseases in children, families and communities. Shaibi applies a translational approach that includes basic, clinical and community research collaborations.
Speaker Topics:
- Cardiometabolic disease
- Community-based participatory research
- Health equity
- Health promotion and disease prevention
- Physical activity/inactivity
- Clinical partnerships
- Diabetes prevention
- Health interventions
- Obesity
- Population health
Jody Thompson
Jody Thompson manages ASU’s Center for Advancing Interprofessional Practice, Education and Research’s (CAIPER) social media platforms and guides the digital audience strategy, marketing communications, product launches and outreach initiatives. She has worked with multiple elements of interprofessional education and practice since 2012. Before joining CAIPER, Thompson provided direct case management for homeless and vulnerable populations. She holds a master’s degree in digital audience strategy.
Speaker Topics:
- Cancer
- Health equity
- Health interventions
- Long-term care
- Online education
- Stigma
- Digital strategies
- Depression
- Health innovation and technology
- Interprofessional practice
- Mindfulness
- Resilience/Wellness
- Trauma
- Digital communications
Fang Yu
Fang Yu is a Professor and Edson Chair in Dementia Translational Nursing Science. Yu’s vision is to modify the declining trajectory of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias to improve physical function, cognition and quality of life for older adults with AD and their family caregivers. Her intervention research demonstrates that rehabilitation improves function and aerobic exercise maintains cognition, improves function and quality of life, and reduces caregiver burden. Yu’s observational studies link exercise, aerobic fitness and biomarkers to brain health. Her NIH-funded clinical trials showed that exercises slowed cognitive decline in older adults with mild-to-moderate AD dementia, likely through improving brain structure and AD pathology (The FIT-AD Trial). Her ACT Trial tests combined aerobic exercise and cognitive training on cognition using imaging and blood biomarkers in mild cognitive impairment. Currently, her FIT-AD SMART Trial is recruiting older adults with early AD to test if precision exercise will improve cognition and function more favorably than traditional exercises.
Speaker Topics:
- Aging
- Clinical trials
- Geriatrics
- Physical activity and exercise
- Technology-assisted non-drug interventions
- Alzheimer’s diseases
- Cognitive training
- Imaging and blood biomarkers
- Team science