Recognitions, Honors & Awards
Benita Chatmon, PhD, MSN, RN, CNE, Assistant Dean for Clinical Nursing Education and Assistant Professor of Clinical Nursing, has been recognized as a Woman of Influence by the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce.
Constance Pfingstag, CNM, DNP, Program Coordinator for the BSN-DNP Nurse Midwifery Concentration and Instructor of Clinical Nursing, has been named a Fellow of the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACMN). Fellowship in the ACNM is an honor bestowed upon midwives whose demonstrated leadership within ACNM, clinical excellence, outstanding scholarship and professional achievement have merited special recognition both within and outside of the midwifery profession.
Sherry Rivera, DNP, APRN, ANP-C, Assistant Professor, has been inducted as a Fellow of the National Kidney Foundation and was recognized in April at the Spring Clinical Meeting 2022 in Boston. The National Kidney Foundation recognizes health care providers who serve the organization through professional, educational, and community service activities promoting the mission of the National Kidney Foundation. Dr. Rivera serves as the co-chair of the Spring Clinical Meeting and on the Executive Committee for the National Kidney Foundation Council of Advanced Practice Providers. Dr. Rivera has worked as a nurse practitioner in nephrology and was a member of the End-Stage Renal Disease Patient-Reported Outcomes Technical Expert Panel in 2017. Dr. Rivera is a member of the National Kidney Foundation, American Nephrology Nurses Association, American Society of Nephrology, Louisiana Association of Nurse Practitioners, the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners and Sigma Theta Tau National Honor Society. She is a New Orleans City Business Healthcare Hero Honoree and previously received the DAISY Faculty Award, the Outstanding Nurse Practitioner Faculty Award and the Outstanding Doctor of Nursing Practice Award from the School of Nursing, as well as the Education Writing Award from Nephrology Nursing Journal.
LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing Advocacy Program facilitators Todd Tartavoulle, DNS, APRN, CNS-BC, Assistant Dean for Student Services; Mitchell Handrich, RN, from the LSU Health Sciences Center; and Dillon King, owner of Flambeaux Fit, NOLA Chapter President of The Out Foundation and member of CrossFit’s DEI council, received a military Coin of Excellence after presenting the Advocacy Program to military health care professionals in Waikiki, Hawaii. The Advocacy Program addresses health inequities in LGBTQ+ populations and creates affirming health care environments, and this was the first time the military has received training on how to deliver culturally sensitive care to the LGBTQ+ population. The military coins they received are rare and are usually given by commanders only to soldiers who perform duties with excellence.
Promotions
Todd Tartavoulle, DNS, APRN, CNS-BC, was promoted to Assistant Dean for Student Services in February 2022. Dr. Tartavoulle is an Associate Professor of Clinical Nursing at the School of Nursing and previously served as Program Director for the Traditional BSN Program.
Certifications
Chariz Montminy, MSN, RN, CNE, CCRN-CMC, Instructor of Clinical Nursing, successfully passed her Certified Nurse Educator (CNE) exam in February 2022.
New Faculty and Staff
Kaitlyn DeDeaux joined the School of Nursing as the administrative assistant to the Dean in January 2022. She is a graduate student at Capella University, pursuing a degree in public health, and has worked at LSU since 2018 as a central service worker and an accounting specialist.
Brittany T. Harrison, DNP, MSN, PMHNP-BC, Instructor of Clinical Nursing, joined the School of Nursing as the Coordinator of the BSN to DNP Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Concentration in January 2022. She is American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC)-certified as Family Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, is a current member of the Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society and was the recipient of the NANDA Nursing Leadership Award and the Professional Nursing Training Award.
William Rasmussen, NP, joined the School of Nursing as an Instructor of Clinical Nursing in March 2022. He is a board-certified Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner practicing in the medical intensive care unit at Ochsner Medical Center and a member of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society, the Society of Critical Care Medicine, the American Association of Critical Care Nurses and Remote Area Medical Volunteers.
Mary Ritter, DNP, MSN, MLS, FNP-BC, joined the School of Nursing as an Instructor of Clinical Nursing in January 2022. She is a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner with a doctorate in Nursing Practice and subspecialty in palliative care. Dr. Ritter has more than 28 years of clinical experience in oncology, hospice, palliative care, intensive care, emergency care, med/surg and telemetry. She has served in various administrative roles, including unit manager for multiple clinical units and chief nursing officer for an acute care facility. She was recognized in 2012 as the Advanced Practice Nurse of the Year for the State of Louisiana (Nightingale Award) and was also the recipient of the Baton Rouge District Nurses’ Association Leadership Award in 2006. She is a member of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners and American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants.
Demetrice Smith, FNP-C, CNM, joined the School of Nursing as an Instructor of Clinical Nursing in January 2022. She is a dually trained Certified Nurse Midwife and family nurse practitioner with extensive experience in the OB/GYN arena. She is currently pursuing her Doctor of Nursing Practice with a specialization in educational leadership at American Sentinel College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Post University. She is the founder of Melanated Midwife, where she empowers clients through education and advocacy. She is also president of the Louisiana Black Midwives Alliance, a board member of Saul’s Light, and an Evidence Based Birth Certified Instructor®. She also serves on the Pregnancy Associated Mortality Review for Louisiana and the Opioid Perinatal Stakeholder Workgroup.
Jessica Teeter, RN, MSN, joined the School of Nursing as an Instructor of Clinical Nursing in February 2022. Teaching the Populations course for undergraduate nursing, she hopes to share her passion for the community to better prepare future nurses for practice in a variety of settings. She has a broad range of clinical experience; however, her primary nursing background is in community focus as a Home Health Nurse.
Kacey Wuertz, BSN, RN, CCRN, joined the School of Nursing as an Instructor of Clinical Nursing in May 2022. A School of Nursing BSN alumnus, he is working on his Doctor of Nursing Practice degree here, specializing as an Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner. He has extensive knowledge in critical care nursing and specializes in surgical critical care with a focus in cardiothoracic, abdominal, ENT and vascular surgery, as well as solid organ transplantation, and he remains active as a bedside critical care nurse at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans.
Grants
The following grants-funded projects are currently in progress:
“Building a Behavioral Health Workforce through Integrated Care: Training Nurse Practitioner Students to Fill the Gap”
Funder: Health Resources and Services Administration
Project Director: Leanne H. Fowler, DNP, MBA, APRN, AGACNP-BC, CNE, Program Director of Nurse Practitioner Programs, Program Coordinator of the Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Concentration and Associate Professor of Clinical Nursing
Project Team: Brittany Harrison, DNP, MSN, PMHNP-BC, Program Coordinator of the BSN to DNP Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Program and Instructor of Clinical Nursing and Melissa Nunn, DNP, APRN, CPNP-PC/AC, Coordinator of the BSN-DNP Pediatric Nurse Practitioner – Primary Care and Acute Care Concentrations
In Partnership with: South Louisiana Human Services District, Access Health Louisiana and Family Preservation Services
Duration: July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2025
“Enhancement of Maternity Nursing Education through the Use of High-Fidelity Simulation to Address Maternal Health in Louisiana”
Funder: Louisiana State Board of Regents
Principal Investigator: Alison Davis, PhD, RN, CNE, CHSE, Director of the Nursing Skills and Technology Center, Director of the Nurse Educator Concentration and Associate Professor of Clinical Nursing
Project Team: Gloria Giarratano, PhD, APRN, CNS, FAAN, Professor of Nursing; Sherri Hayes, MSN, RN, CCRN-K, CHSE, Simulation Coordinator and Educator and Instructor of Clinical Nursing and Eurydice Lang, RN, MSN, CLC, Instructor of Clinical Nursing
Duration: June 1, 2020, to June 30, 2022
“Ensuring Access to High Quality Care for Patients with Substance Use Disorders: Training Advanced Practice Registered Nurses to Make a Difference”
Funder: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency
Project Director: Laura Bonanno, PhD, DNP, CRNA, Program Director, Nurse Anesthesia Program and Professor of Nursing
Project Team: Leanne H. Fowler, DNP, MBA, APRN, AGACNP-BC, CNE, Program Director of Nurse Practitioner Programs, Program Coordinator of the Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Concentration and Associate Professor of Clinical Nursing; Deborah Garbee, PhD, APRN, ACNS-BC, FCNS, Associate Dean for Professional Practice, Community Service and Advanced Nursing Practice; Program Director for the Adult Gerontology Clinical Nurse Specialist Concentration and Professor of Clinical Nursing; Jennifer Badeaux, DNP, CRNA, Associate Professor of Clinical Nursing, Nurse Anesthesia; Raymond Devlin, DNP, CRNA, Instructor of Clinical Nursing, Nurse Anesthesia; and Carly Pigg, CRA, Coordinator of Grants and Development
Duration: April 30, 2020, to April 29, 2023
“Exploring LGBTQ Military Service Member Stressors and Lived Experience”
Funder: Geneva Foundation/Tri-Services Grant Program
Principal Investigator: Todd Tartavoulle, DNS, APRN, CNS-BC, Assistant Dean for Student Services
Duration: March 1, 2021, to February 28, 2022
“Increasing the Use of Routine Standardized, Parent-Completed Developmental Screening (RSPDS) in Louisiana Pediatric Primary Care Practice”
Funder: Health Resources and Services Administration
Project Director: Leslie C. Lopez, PhD, CCC/SLP, Speech-Language Pathology Assistant Professor, LSU Health New Orleans School of Allied Health Professions
Project Team: Melissa Nunn, DNP, APRN, CPNP-PC/AC, Coordinator of the BSN-DNP Pediatric Nurse Practitioner – Primary Care and Acute Care Concentrations, and Megan R. Guidry, Au.D., CCC-A, Assistant Professor of Clinical Audiology at the LSU Health New Orleans School of Allied Health Professions
Duration: March 1, 2022, to February 28, 2027
LSU Health Advanced Nursing Education Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners Program
Funder: Health Resources and Services Administration
Project Director: Alison Davis, PhD, RN, CNE, CHSE, Director of the Nursing Skills and Technology Center, Director of the Nurse Educator Concentration and Associate Professor of Clinical Nursing
Project Team: Molada Brand, MSN, RN, Instructor of Clinical Nursing; Deborah St. Germain, DNP, RN, CEN, Assistant Professor of Clinical Nursing; Sherri Hayes, MSN, RN, CCRN-K, CHSE, Simulation Coordinator and Educator and Instructor of Clinical Nursing; Carly Pigg, CRA, Coordinator of Grants and Development; and Sonita Singh, PhD, Instructor of Behavioral & Community Health at the LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health
In Partnership with: University Medical Center New Orleans, Children’s Hospital, St. Tammany Parish Coroner’s Office, The Haven
Duration: September 30, 2021, to June 30, 2024
Nurse Anesthetist Traineeship
Funder: Health Resources and Services Administration
Project Director: Laura Bonanno, PhD, DNP, CRNA, Program Director, Nurse Anesthesia Program and Professor of Nursing
Duration: July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2023
Nurse Faculty Loan Program
Funder: Health Resources and Services Administration
Project Director: Deborah Garbee, PhD, APRN, ACNS-BC, FCNS, Associate Dean for Professional Practice, Community Service and Advanced Nursing Practice; Program Director for the Adult Gerontology Clinical Nurse Specialist Concentration and Professor of Clinical Nursing
Duration: July 1, 2018, to June 30, 3022
“What Is the Protocol for Providers and Women Diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes?”
Funder: LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing Dean’s Seed Grant
Principal Investigator: Marie Adorno, PhD, APRN, CNS, RNC-MNN, CNE, Director of the DNS Program, Interim Director of the PhD in Nursing Program, Assistant Professor of Clinical Nursing
Duration: September 27, 2021, to September 26, 2022
Publications
Colette Baudoin, Ph.D. (c), MSN, RN, OCN, CNE, Instructor of Clinical Nursing; Aimme McCauley, DNP, RN, CNE, NSTC Learning Lab Coordinator and Simulation Specialist; and Alison Davis, PhD, RN, CNE, CHSE, Director of the Nursing Skills and Technology Center, Director of the Nurse Educator Concentration and Associate Professor of Clinical Nursing, published “New Graduate Nurses in the Intensive Care Setting: Preparing Them for Patient Death” in the January 2022 issue of Critical Care Nursing Clinics of North America.
Leanne H. Fowler, DNP, MBA, APRN, AGACNP-BC, CNE, Program Director of Nurse Practitioner Programs, Program Coordinator of the Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Concentration and Associate Professor of Clinical Nursing; Latanja Lawrence Divens, PhD, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, Assistant Professor Clinical Nursing Education and Coordinator of the Adult Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Program; and Sherry Rivera, DNP, APRN, ANP-C, FNKF, Assistant Professor of Clinical Nursing, authored a book chapter for Disorders of the Pulmonary System in Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner: Evidence Based Standards of Practice (Springer Publishing), in press for 2022.
Leanne H. Fowler, DNP, MBA, APRN, AGACNP-BC, CNE, Program Director of Nurse Practitioner Programs, Program Coordinator of the Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Concentration and Associate Professor of Clinical Nursing, authored a book chapter for Disorders of the Head, Ears, Eyes, Nose, and Throat in Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner: Evidence Based Standards of Practice (Springer Publishing), in press for 2022.
Gloria Giarratano, PhD, APRN, CNS, FAAN, Professor of Nursing, published “Gaps in the congenital syphilis prevention cascade: qualitative findings from Kern County, California” in BMC Infectious Diseases in February 2022.
Mary Maher-Griffiths, DNS, MSHCM, RNC-OB, Instructor of Clinical Nursing Maher-Griffiths, published “Perinatal Palliative Care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit” in Critical Nursing Clinics of North America (Elsivier), Volume 34, Issue 1, March 2022 pp. 103-119.
Jennifer Manning, DNS, ACNS-BC, CNE, Associate Dean for the Undergraduate Nursing Program, Program Director of the Baccalaureate Articulation Program and Associate Professor of Clinical Nursing, published “Connecting Research Priorities, the Research Agenda, and Health Policy (Chapter 25)” in Health Policy and Advanced Practice Nursing: Impact and Implications (Springer Publishing), 3rd ed., in March 2022.
Erin O’Connor, a student at the School of Nursing, published “Implications of APRNs returning to the bedside as RNs” in the In the Kneaux LANP Newsletter in March 2022.
Demetrius Porche, DNS, PhD, ANEF, FACHE, FAANP, FAAN, Professor and Dean of the School of Nursing authored the chapter “Effective Institutional and Professional Leadership: Essential to Achieve Excellence and Distinction in Nursing Education” in Achieving Distinction in Nursing Education (Wolters Kluwer) in August 2021.
